The Supreme Court said that the Election Commission had communicated the guidelines on the model code to the chief secretaries of all the states and Union territories and to all the political parties in March 2009.
“Therefore, there was no doubt on the EC stand that the implementation of the `2 kg rice scheme of the Left Front in Kerala at this juncture will disturb the level playing field and the same would come under the provisions of the model code,” the top court bench said.
The court further clarified that the EC, by a letter of March 11 sent through the chief electoral officer, had asked Kerala not to implement the scheme till the elections.
Kerala’s counsel L. Nageshwar Rao challenged the EC order on the ground that the poll panel has stretched its powers under “election symbol order (ESO)” too far to stop the implementation of continuing welfare scheme whereas the EC’s powers under the ESO were limited to the cancelling of the recognition of a political party if it was found violating the model code.