Congress: Karnataka polls: Election Commission issues notices to BJP, Congress over model code violations | India News

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission (EC) on Monday issued notices to the BJP and the Congress over model code violations during campaigning in Karnataka, which has seen slurs, insults and baseless allegations fly fast and loose.
A notice was issued to the BJP by the poll panel over a newspaper ad published on May 8, which makes “specific but unverifiable allegations against the Congress”.

The EC has asked Karnataka BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel to provided “verifiable and traceable” facts regarding its claims in the ad. The action was taken based on a complaint by the Congress.

“While general claims and accusations are part of election campaigns, specific allegations and claims about the opponents need to be supported by verifiable and traceable facts. Any claim made without basis and empirical evidence has potential of misleading the voters thereby robbing them of their right ‘of making right and informed choices’ among the candidate, thus disturbing level playing field, the poll panel said in its notice to Kateel.

Meanwhile, the EC also wrote to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to “clarify and rectify” social media posts referring to the term ‘sovereignty’ in context of the state of Karnataka.
Karnataka will go to the polls in a single phase on May 10. The results will be decaled on May 13