- The Election Commission has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had neither informed, nor sought any permission from, the EC for broadcast of his recent address to nation on the anti-Satellite missile test Mission Shakti.
- Opposition parties had alleged that the PM’s address was a violation of the Model Code of Conduct and demanded that EC take action in this regard.
- The EC had then set up a committee of officers to examine whether any content of the Prime Minister’s speech violated the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). The committee had sought response from state broadcasters Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR) about the source of their feed which aired PM’s speech. Doordarshan and AIR has reported that they had taken the feed from a live broadcast made through Youtube.
- Model code of Conduct (MCC) are the guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India for conduct of political parties and candidates during elections mainly with respect to (a)speeches (b)polling day (c)polling booths (d)election manifestos (e)processions and (f)general conduct. The MCC comes into force immediately on the announcement of the election schedule by the commission. The Code remains in force till the end of the electoral process.
