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or any of the eleven Identity Docu- Political Parties. These Guidelines
ments as notified by the Commission. have been incorporated as part VIII of
The Commission has decided to “Model Code of Conduct of Guidance of
use Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail Political Parties & Candidates” and shall
(VVPAT) along with Electronic Voting be applicable & implemented in Lok
Machine (EVM) at every polling station Sabha Elections — 2019 as part of MCC.
of all the States and Union Territories The Commission calls upon all the
to enhance the transparency and cred- Political Parties, Candidates and the
ibility of the election process as VVPAT Union and State Governments and UT
allows the voter to verify his/her vote. Administrations to strictly adhere to
The Commission has already made the MCC. The Commission has made
arrangements to ensure availability elaborate arrangements for ensuring
of an adequate number of EVMs and the effective implementation of the
VVPATs for the smooth conduct of MCC Guidelines. Any violations of these
elections. Guidelines would be strictly dealt with
The Commission has also man- and the Commission re-emphasizes
dated that VVPAT slip count of One (1) that the instructions issued in this
randomly selected Polling Station in
each Assembly Constituency in case of
Assembly elections and One (1) ran- The poll panel
domly selected polling station of each
Assembly Segment of Parliamentary has introduced a
Constituency, by the Returning Officer, slew of new or
by Draw of Lot in presence of all can-
didates, shall be done for verification improved measures
of the result obtained from the Con- in order to make
trol Unit. This mandatory verification
of VVPAT slip count of one (1) polling the elections free,
station in each Assembly Constituency/ fair and transparent.
each Assembly Segment of Parliamen-
tary Constituency shall be in addition to For the first time
the provisions of Rule 56(D) of the Con- VVPAT will be used in been issued in the form of Standard
duct of Elections Rules, 1961. Operating.
all EVMs
Model code of conduct Affidavits of candidates
With this, the Model Code of Conduct All the candidates are required to file
comes into effect. Chief Election Com- regard from time to time should be an affidavit (in Form 26) along with
missioner Sunil Arora called upon all read and understood by all Political their nomination papers. This affidavit
political parties to strictly adhere to the Parties, contesting candidates and their will include information on the crimi-
Code. Consequent on the announce- agents/ representatives, to avoid any nal antecedents of the candidate, if any,
ment of the Schedule for the General misgivings or lack of information or assets (including the movable, immova-
Election, the Model Code of Conduct understanding/ interpretation. ble properties and investments even in
(MCC) for the Guidance of Political Par- The government of the poll-bound foreign countries, of the candidate, his/
ties and Candidates comes into opera- States has also been directed to ensure her spouse and dependents), liabilities
tion with immediate effect in the entire that no misuse of official machinery/ of the candidate, his/ her spouse and
country. This will be applicable to all position is done during the MCC pe- dependents and his/ her educational
Political Parties and the Union and State riod. The Commission has also issued qualifications.
Governments and UT Administrations. instructions for swift, effective and The filing of the affidavit with all col-
In pursuance of the judgment of stringent action for enforcement of umns duly filled in is mandatory and
Supreme Court dated 5th July Model Code of Conduct during the first its non-filing may result in rejection of
2013, in SLP (C) no 21455 of 2008 72 hours of the announcement of elec- the nomination paper by the Returning
(S.Subramaniam Balaji vs Govt of T.N. tion schedule and also for maintaining Officer, who has a duty to inform about
& others) the Election Commission has extra vigilance and strict enforcement such omissions to the candidate. The
framed Guidelines on Election Mani- action in the last 72 hours prior to the format of Form 26 has been amended
festo in consultation with recognized close of polls. These Instructions have vide Ministry of Law & Justice Notifi-

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