The Election Commission on Tuesday took note of the “plummeting” level of campaign discourse for the Karnataka Assembly elections and asked political parties to focus on “issue-based” debates.
In an advisory, the poll panel urged the star campaigners of parties to exercise restraint and maintain “the expected level of dignity”.
The 224-member Karnataka Assembly will go to polls on May 10. The votes will be counted on May 13.
The Election Commission said that its attention had been drawn to the instances of inappropriate language being used during the campaign by political parties, and in particular, their star campaigners.
“Such instances have occasioned various complaints, cross complaints and have also attracted negative media attention,” the statement said.
On April 28, the Bharatiya Janata Party had complained to the Election Commission after Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a “venomous snake”, reported The Indian Express.
The Congress had also sought a ban on campaigning by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath, alleging that they tried to create an atmosphere of communal disharmony in the state.
Last week, the prime minister at an election rally in north Karnataka devoted considerable time of his speech to the “venomous snake” comment and claimed that the Congress had abused him 91 times in different ways.
Reacting to this, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had urged Modi to speak about the BJP’s plans for Karnataka’s future rather than talk about himself.
“You have to say what you did in Karnataka for the past three years,” he added. “You also have to speak in your speeches about what you will be doing in the next five years, what will do for youth, education, health and to fight corruption.”
In its advisory on Tuesday, the Election Commission noted that, according to the Model Code of Conduct provisions, use of provocative and inflammatory statements as well as attacks on the personal character and conduct of political rivals vitiate the level playing field.
“The spirit of the MCC is not just avoidance of a direct violation, it also prohibits attempts to vitiate the electoral space through suggestive or indirect statements or innuendoes,” the poll panel said.
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