EC issues electoral code of conduct banning posters, drones in campaign

The Election Commission (EC) has published a gazette on electoral code of conduct for political parties and candidates ahead of the upcoming 13th national elections.

According to the code of conduct, political parties and candidates won’t be allowed to use posters in election campaign while announcement of election manifesto in a single platform and giving undertaking to follow the code of conduct have been made mandatory for parties and candidates.

In case of violation of the code of conduct, there is a provision of a maximum penalty of six months imprisonment and a fine of Taka 150,000 for candidates and 150,000 for the party.

There is also a provision for cancellation of candidacy in the Representation of People Order (RPO) for violation of any provision of the code of conduct.

Besides, use of drones in election campaign and campaigning abroad is also been prohibited. A candidate cannot use more than 20 billboards in the respective parliamentary constituency as per the code of conduct.

Senior Secretary of the EC Secretariat Akhtar Ahmed signed the gazette titled ‘Political Parties and Candidates’ Code of Conduct, 2025′, which was published on Monday night.

The code of conduct outlines what can and cannot be done, including imposing strict restrictions on election campaign on social media, prohibiting the use of AI for malicious purposes, and banning the use of posters and drones.

Election campaigning through social media:

The code of conduct notes that a candidate or his/her election agents or any other person on behalf of the candidate may conduct election campaigning using social media.

In this case, the name, account ID, e-mail ID and other identifying information of the candidate or his/her election agents or party or candidate related to the social media must be submitted to the returning officer before the campaign begins.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) cannot be used for ill purposes in any matter related to the elections, including the campaigning.

All kinds of harmful content, including hate speech, misinformation, distortion of someone’s face and fabricated information related to the elections, cannot be created and disseminated.

Hate speech, personal attacks or provocative language targeting opponents, women, minorities or any other community cannot be used. Religious or ethnical sentiments cannot be misused to gain electoral interests.

All election-related contents must be examined before sharing and publishing those on social media.