1.3k tenders issued in poll-bound states in 48 hours after model code kicked in

NEw new delhi : In the number one 48 hours after the pose write in code of carry on (MCC) came into effect on March 15, 2026, government departments across poll-bound states rushed through over 1,300 tenders, Hindustan Times’ has found — raising serious questions about whether election rules are being openly disregarded. The government tenders, uploaded on March 16 and 17 across West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and Tamil Nadu, cover routine development work — the very category the MCC is meant to freeze during elections. One exception is the Union Territory of Puducherry, where no government tenders were uploaded.The scale is staggering. West Bengal alone accounts for over 865 tenders, followed by Kerala (284), Assam (96) and Tamil Nadu (89) — taking the total to 1,334 tenders within two days of the elections being announced and MCC coming into effect.Roads, drains, hospitals, anganwadi centres, substations, stadiums — the tenders cover just about everything.“The Election Commission of India hasn’t given any permission or authorisation for any work under these tenders. As per the law, you simply can’t publish a tender or issue a work order without prior approval from the commission when MCC is under effect. We’ve asked our technical wing to go through all the tender documents and details across state portals carefully. Once that review is done, strict action will be taken against the officials responsible — particularly the chief engineers and superintending engineers under whose watch this was issued,” a senior Election Commission official said on condition of anonymity.The MCC is a set of guidelines issued by the ECI that comes into force immediately after the announcement of election dates. It is designed to ensure a level playing field by restricting governments from announcing new schemes, making policy decisions, or initiating fresh public works that could influence voters. Under the MCC, only ongoing or already-approved projects can continue, and even those require prior clearance from the Commission.The rules leave little room for interpretation — and what has happened here appears to run directly against them. Part VII of the MCC clearly bars governments and their departments from announcing or initiating the tender process for any work until explicit permission has been given by the ECI once elections are announced. The Commission’s own guidelines mandate that all major tenders must be deferred until polls conclude unless prior approval is obtained for genuine emergency work.A senior West Bengal government official said no new project was launched after the MCC came into force and the tenders relate to repair or maintenance of old projects. “If road and bridge repairs are delayed for months, how will people commute? In Cooch Behar, for example, a 30-year-old bridge collapsed on January 30. It needs repair,” the official said.Kerala local self-government minister MB Rajesh said the “tenders may have been issued by the respective rural or urban local bodies”. “But, we in the government would not know about such tenders. They may have been issued at the grassroots level. Our department has not issued any tenders in this period,” he said.Raj Chakrabarty, special commissioner and special secretary, public works building and NH department, Assam, said: “I don’t think we have issued any such tenders and if any specific office has done it, it is wrong. I will look into it and see what the issue is.”HT discovered that the same pattern played out in 2021, when MCC came into force on February 26. Data from the same government portals shows that 325 tenders were uploaded within the first 48 hours then: West Bengal (202), Tamil Nadu (58), Kerala (52) and Assam (13). In 2026, that number has surged to over 1,334, flagging not just violations of MCC but also possible infractions of Section 123 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which treats the use of public funds and government machinery to influence voters as a corrupt practice .In the case of West Bengal, the state’s municipal affairs department alone pushed 199 tenders, with Panihati municipality issuing 58 for hyper-local work such as drains and small roads and Purba Midnapore zilla parishad uploading 119 tenders in a single day for solar lights, crematorium work and village roads — routine, hyper-local projects with no conceivable justification of an emergency. Kerala’s 284 tenders came from 12 districts, driven largely by the local self government department,and here too, the work ranged from canal cleaning in Thrissur to road paving and school repairs across panchayats, routine civic and maintenance activities.Assam uploaded 96 tenders, mostly from the PWD Building and NH Department, for work such as a 500-seater auditorium, a guest house and institutional upgrades, not emergencies.Tamil Nadu recorded 89 tenders, led by the Corporation of Chennai with 31 tenders for gyms, crematorium maintenance, drainage and civic infrastructure. These are, again, pre-planned activities that do not meet any emergency criteria under MCC.Yet, the tenders are live, bids are being invited, and work could proceed during the election period itself.