Election Commission press release · 16 March 2026 · pibtracker filter

ECI issues directions for strict implementation of Model Code of Conduct for the general elections in 5 States/UT and bye-elections in 6 States

PRID2240566 MinistryElection Commission Released16 March 2026 Reading9 min

Posted On: 16 MAR 2026 1:36PM by PIB Delhi The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule for the General Election to Legislative Assemblies of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal on March 15, 2026. As per the schedule, notifications issued today by ECI and the States/UT of Assam, Kerala and Puducherry have been published in their respective gazettes. With this announcement, ECI has issued directions to Chief Secretary and Chief Electoral Officer of the respective States/UT regarding immediate coming into force of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) in the State/UTs. The MCC shall also be applicable to the Central Government in respect of announcements/policy decisions for the States/UT concerned. The Commission directed to ensure strict compliance with the instructions related to removal of defacement from Government, public and private property; misuse of official vehicles or Government accommodation by any political party, candidate or any other person connected with election; ban on issuance of advertisement at the cost of public exchequer. The privacy of citizens must be respected, with no demonstrations or picketing outside private residences. Land, buildings, or walls shall not be used for flags, banners, or posters without the owner’s consent . A complaint monitoring system has been set up including a Call Centre number 1950 in which complaints can be lodged by any member of the public or political party, with the DEO/RO concerned. Citizens/political parties can also report MCC violations using the C-Vigil App on ECINET. Over 5,173 Flying squads and over have been deployed across the States/UT to ensure that the complaints are attended to within 100 minutes. Besides this, over 5,200 Static Surveillance Teams (SSTs) have also been deployed. Political Parties are required to inform police authorities in advance of meetings and processions to enable traffic and security arrangements, to comply with prohibitory orders and to obtain necessary permissions for loudspeakers or other facilities. Ministers shall not combine official duties with electioneering or use government machinery, transport, or personnel for campaign purposes. Officials at all levels have been directed to act impartially in enforcing MCC , ensuring equal treatment of all parties and preventing misuse of official facilities. They must regulate meetings, processions and polling arrangements fairly, safeguard law and order and maintain the credibility of the electoral process. The SUVIDHA module has been activated on ECINET where political parties can apply for usage of public places such as maidans and helipads, which would be allocated on first come first serve basis. ********** PK/GDH/RP (Release ID: 2240566) Visitor Counter : 8875 Read this release in: हिन्दी , Tamil , Bengali , Bengali-TR , Assamese , Gujarati , Urdu , Punjabi , Telugu , Malayalam Election Commission ECI issues directions for strict implementation of Model Code of Conduct for the general elections in 5 States/UT and bye-elections in 6 States Posted On: 16 MAR 2026 1:36PM by PIB Delhi The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule for the General Election to Legislative Assemblies of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal on March 15, 2026. As per the schedule, notifications issued today by ECI and the States/UT of Assam, Kerala and Puducherry have been published in their respective gazettes. With this announcement, ECI has issued directions to Chief Secretary and Chief Electoral Officer of the respective States/UT regarding immediate coming into force of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) in the State/UTs. The MCC shall also be applicable to the Central Government in respect of announcements/policy decisions for the States/UT concerned. The Commission directed to ensure strict compliance with the instructions related to removal of defacement from Government, public and private property; misuse of official vehicles or Government accommodation by any political party, candidate or any other person connected with election; ban on issuance of advertisement at the cost of public exchequer. The privacy of citizens must be respected, with no demonstrations or picketing outside private residences. Land, buildings, or walls shall not be used for flags, banners, or posters without the owner’s consent . A complaint monitoring system has been set up including a Call Centre number 1950 in which complaints can be lodged by any member of the public or political party, with the DEO/RO concerned. Citizens/political parties can also report MCC violations using the C-Vigil App on ECINET. Over 5,173 Flying squads and over have been deployed across the States/UT to ensure that the complaints are attended to within 100 minutes. Besides this, over 5,200 Static Surveillance Teams (SSTs) have also been deployed. Political Parties are required to inform police authorities in advance of meetings and processions to enable traffic and security arrangements, to comply with prohibitory orders and to obtain necessary permissions for loudspeakers or other facilities. Ministers shall not combine official duties with electioneering or use government machinery, transport, or personnel for campaign purposes. Officials at all levels have been directed to act impartially in enforcing MCC , ensuring equal treatment of all parties and preventing misuse of official facilities. They must regulate meetings, processions and polling arrangements fairly, safeguard law and order and maintain the credibility of the electoral process. The SUVIDHA module has been activated on ECINET where political parties can apply for usage of public places such as maidans and helipads, which would be allocated on first come first serve basis. ********** PK/GDH/RP (Release ID: 2240566) The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule for the General Election to Legislative Assemblies of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal on March 15, 2026.</li> <li style="text-align:justify">As per the schedule, notifications issued today by ECI and the States/UT of Assam, Kerala and Puducherry have been published in their respective gazettes.</li> <li style="text-align:justify">With this announcement, ECI has issued directions to Chief Secretary and Chief Electoral Officer of the respective States/UT regarding immediate coming into force of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) in the State/UTs. The MCC shall also be applicable to the Central Government in respect of announcements/policy decisions for the States/UT concerned.</li> <li style="text-align:justify">The Commission directed to ensure strict compliance with the instructions related to removal of defacement from Government, public and private property; misuse of official vehicles or Government accommodation by any political party, candidate or any other person connected with election; ban on issuance of advertisement at the cost of public exchequer.</li> <li style="text-align:justify">The privacy of citizens must be respected, with no demonstrations or picketing outside private residences. Land, buildings, or walls shall not be used for flags, banners, or posters without the owner’s consent.</li> <li style="text-align:justify">A complaint monitoring system has been set up including a Call Centre number 1950 in which complaints can be lodged by any member of the public or political party, with the DEO/RO concerned.</li> <li style="text-align:justify">Citizens/political parties can also report MCC violations using the C-Vigil App on ECINET. Over 5,173 Flying squads and over have been deployed across the States/UT to ensure that the complaints are attended to within 100 minutes. Besides this, over 5,200 Static Surveillance Teams (SSTs) have also been deployed.</li> <li style="text-align:justify">Political Parties are required to inform police authorities in advance of meetings and processions to enable traffic and security arrangements, to comply with prohibitory orders and to obtain necessary permissions for loudspeakers or other facilities.</li> <li style="text-align:justify">Ministers shall not combine official duties with electioneering or use government machinery, transport, or personnel for campaign purposes.</li> <li style="text-align:justify">Officials at all levels have been directed to act impartially in enforcing MCC, ensuring equal treatment of all parties and preventing misuse of official facilities. They must regulate meetings, processions and polling arrangements fairly, safeguard law and order and maintain the credibility of the electoral process.</li> <li style="text-align:justify">The SUVIDHA module has been activated on ECINET where political parties can apply for usage of public places such as maidans and helipads, which would be allocated on first come first serve basis.</li> ********** PK/GDH/RP " /> var mPlayer = document.getElementById("background_music"); var mPlayAction = document.getElementById("playbutton"); var isPlaying = false; function playAudio() { mPlayer.play(); isPlaying = true; document.getElementById('stopA').style.display = "block"; document.getElementById('playA').style.display = "none"; } function pauseAudio() { mPlayer.pause(); isPlaying = false; document.getElementById('playA').style.display = "block"; document.getElementById('stopA').style.display = "none"; } //function HandleAudio() { // if (isPlaying == true) { // //Playing already Pause it // pauseAudio(); // } else { // //Play the music // playAudio(); // } //} var synth = window.speechSynthesis; function CleanHtml(html) { html = html.replace(/ /gi, ''); return html; } function stripHtml(html) { let tmp = document.createElement("DIV"); tmp.innerHTML = CleanHtml(html); return tmp.textContent || tmp.innerText || ""; } $(document).ready(function () { //for responsive tables $("table").each(function () { if (!$(this).closest(".table-responsive").length) { $(this).wrap(" "); } }); var width = $(window).width(); if (width $(document).ready(function () { var width = $(window).width(); if (width @media print { .sticky-social, .sticky-social_mb, .pull-right, #printPDF { display: none !important; } } .f_vl { padding-right: 30px; font-size: 17px; cursor: pointer; } .log_oo { // width: 20%; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; } .log_oo img { width: 150px; /*width: 100%; height: auto;*/ } .sticky-social_mb { position: fixed; bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; width: 100%; } .social_mb { list-style: none; 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height: auto !important; } p img { max-width: 90% !important; height: auto !important; } h2 { font-size: 20px !important; font-weight: 600 !important; } h3 { font-size: 18px !important; font-weight: 600 !important; } } /* === Film Roll Badge Styling(IFFI2025 countdown) === */ .film-roll-badge { position: absolute; top:82%; right: 20px; width: 230px; height: 70px; background: repeating-linear-gradient( to right, #9a2375 0px, #9a2375 18px, #6e2b8b 18px, #6e2b8b 36px ); border-top: 8px solid #9a2375; border-bottom: 8px solid #9a2375; border-radius: 8px; overflow: hidden; box-shadow: 0 4px 12px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4); animation: moveFilm 8s linear infinite; z-index: 10; } /* film sprocket holes */ .film-roll-badge::before, .film-roll-badge::after { content: ""; position: absolute; width: 100%; height: 10px; background: repeating-linear-gradient( to right, #9a2375 0px, #9a2375 10px, #fff 10px, #fff 20px ); left: 0; z-index: 2; } .film-roll-badge::before { top: -4px; } .film-roll-badge::after { bottom: -4px; } .film-roll-inner { position: relative; height: 100%; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; animation: flicker 2s infinite ease-in-out; } .countdown-text { font-size: 1.3rem; font-weight: 700; color: #fff; text-shadow: 0 0 6px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.4), 0 0 10px #000; white-space: nowrap; } /* === Animations === */ @keyframes moveFilm { 0% { background-position: 0 0; } 100% { background-position: 120px 0; } } @keyframes flicker { 0%, 100% { opacity: 1; } 50% { opacity: 0.9; } 25% { opacity: 0.95; } 75% { opacity: 0.85; } } /* === Responsive Adjustments === */ @media (max-width: 1500px) { .film-roll-badge { top: 68%; right: 18px; /* width: 220px; */ height: 65px; font-size: 0.85rem; } .press-section { margin-top: 35px; } } @media (max-width: 992px) { .film-roll-badge { top: 52%; right: 10px; width: 200px; height: 60px; } } @media (max-width: 768px) { .film-roll-badge { top: 56%; right: 10px; width: 124px; height: 55px; } .countdown-text { font-size: 0.9rem; } } @media (max-width: 576px) { .film-roll-badge { top: 59%; right: 5px; /* width: 160px; */ height: 50px; } .countdown-text { font-size: 0.85rem; } } const festivalStart = new Date("2025-11-20T00:00:00").getTime(); const festivalEnd = new Date("2025-11-28T23:59:59").getTime(); const countdownElement = document.getElementById("countdown"); const interval = setInterval(() => { const now = new Date().getTime(); // BEFORE FESTIVAL — show days + hours left if (now = festivalStart && now el.style.width = "350px"); clearInterval(interval); } }, 1000); //

Original PIB release
pib.gov.in · PRID 2240566

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ECI issues directions for strict implementation of Model Code of Conduct for the general elections in 5 States/UT and bye-elections in 6 States

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