New Delhi: In a classic case of political wordplay, the Congress party on Sunday took a playful yet pointed dig at the Election Commission of India (ECI), suggesting its poll schedule announcement was waiting for Prime Minister Narendra Modi—dubbed “G1” — to wrap up his whirlwind of ribbon-cuttings and flag-waving events.
With the ECI set to announce dates for the 2026 assembly elections at 4 PM on Sunday, Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh fired off a post on X that read: “The Election Commission will announce the schedule for the 2026 assembly elections at 4 PM today. It would have been given the go-ahead by the G2, since G1 would have completed this round of inaugurations, ribbon-cuttings, flag-offs, and launches.”
Ramesh added concerns about the upcoming Model Code of Conduct (MCC), stating: “The Election Commission’s Model Code of Conduct (MCC) will soon come into effect. But since 2014 this has come to stand for Modi’s Code of Campaigning which will be full of defamation, abuses, intimidation, fear-mongering, and spreading the virus of lies.” He suggested the MCC has evolved into a platform for intensified political rhetoric since 2014.
The polls in question cover five high-stakes states — Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, and Puducherry. This announcement comes on the heels of meticulous voter list updates. The final electoral rolls for these regions were published after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) was carried out by the ECI to boost accuracy and inclusion.
