Meeting & Procession: Canvassing & Propaganda
(1) No Political Party or Candidate shall give any gratification to any voter or group of voters which may prevent the voter(s) from exercising their electoral right freely.
(2) No election meeting shall be disturbed in any way by any rival political party or its candidate(s) or sympathisers.
(3) Permission from competent authority shall be taken in advance to hold public meetings in public places and for taking out processions on public roads. Prohibitory orders in force in public places shall be respected. Permission to use public places for holding election meetings and to take out procession on public roads shall be given by the appropriate authority on first come first serve basis. Local police and Magistracy shall be kept informed of public meetings/ processions and their directions / instructions/ restrictions shall be obeyed.
(4) Character assassination of candidates/ leaders which creates ill-feelings and tension shall be avoided.
(5) Burning of effigies of leaders of political parties is prohibited. Criticism of rival candidates on aspects of private life or of political parties on the basis of unverified allegations shall be avoided. No demonstration or picketing in any form before the residence of any individual or before Government offices shall be allowed.
(6) Permission from competent authority shall be obtained for use of loud speakers and in any case, such loud speakers must not be used between 8 P.M. of the evening to 7 A.M. next morning. Use of loud speakers shall be completely stopped 48 hours before closure of the poll.
(7) A candidate contesting for the office of the Councillor / Corporator shall use maximum two vehicles ( three wheelers & four wheelers taken together) for each ward for his electioneering and the Political party concerned can use one vehicle for each Municipality / NAC and two vehicles (three wheelers & four wheelers taken together) for Corporation as prescribed by the Commission. For use of vehicles by the contesting candidates and Political Parties detail instructions are available in the appendix.
Similarly, Car / Vehicle being used for electioneering purposes shall under no circumstances be allowed to move in convoys of more than three vehicles in case of Municipalities / NACs and four vehicles in case of Corporations from the date of publication of the final list of contesting candidates till the completion of election process in any Ward of the Municipality/ Corporation. This shall however be subject to any special security instructions issued in respect of any such individual. However, it is clarified that the convoy shall not in any case exceed three or four vehicles, as the case may be, of any person plus the security vehicles allowed in view of the security gradation of that particular person.
8) Display of posters/ pamphlets/ hoardings/ banners or writings on the walls of Govt. buildings/ Educational/Religious institutions/Shrines/Public roads are prohibited. Such display and writings can however be made on private buildings or lands or space with the written permission of the owners concerned.
If any Political Party or candidate indulges in defacement of public property the Election officer shall issue notice to the offender for removing the defacement forthwith. If the political party / candidate donot respond promptly, the district authorities may take action to remove the defacement and the expenses incurred in the process shall be recovered from the political party / candidate. Further, the amount also shall be added to the election expenditure of the candidate concerned, and action shall also be initiated to prosecute the offender.
(9) All printed materials connected with electioneering shall bear the name of the printer and publisher, so that responsibility can be fixed in case of publication of any documents containing illegal, offending and objectionable materials.
(10) No party or candidate shall convene, hold or attend any public meeting in any polling area during the period of forty-eight hours preceding the time fixed for the commencement of the poll.
