The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday issued a notice to Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief DK Shivakumar for publishing an advertisement titled “corruption rate card” in newspapers against the ruling BJP in the state. The advertisement had “unsubstantiated information with respect to alleged rates” cited for appointments and transfers, kinds of jobs, and commissions by the saffron party.
For this, the grand old party has been asked to show reasons and provide empirical evidence by 7 pm on Sunday. The party has been asked to explain why action shouldn’t be initiated against them for violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) and relevant legal provisions under the RP Act and IPC.
“The Commission had received a complaint dated May 5 from the BJP that Congress party has published an advertisement with above-mentioned allegations,” the ECI notice said.
In the notice served to the Congress, the ECI also said that while the general references and allusions to the alleged lack of achievement, misdeeds, not ensuring corruption free governance of political opponents do float in the political campaigns, specific accusations and charges need to be segregated as the same must be backed by verifiable facts.
“Making specific charges, without any factual basis, is an action proscribed by the penal statutes. Independently, accusations without any corresponding informational verification, vitiates the electoral process by disturbing the level playing field by potentially misleading the elector, marrying the exercise of making informed choices,” the notice reads.
The Commission also noted that the allegations and imputations made in the particular advertisement are not general.
“The advertisement, in its very content and format, makes very specific charges, accusing all levels of government machinery (political and bureaucratic) of being compromised and saleable. This brings into disrepute the entire administration, which has the potential of fomenting a feeling of distrust and undermining the legitimacy of the governance system at large, which otherwise, inter-alia, is vital for the smooth conduct of the poll itself,” the notice added.
Earlier this week, on May 2, the Commission had advised all parties and stakeholders to remain within the confines of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) and the legal framework in their utterances while campaigning so as to maintain the dignity of the political discourse and not to vitiate the campaign and election atmosphere.
“While the Commission notes that criticism of the policy and governance of the opponent parties is a right guaranteed under the constitution as well as an essential function of various political actors under our electoral process, however, while exercising this right and performing this essential function, the various political parties are expected to uphold high standards of public discourse and adhere to the various provisions of MCC and relevant laws,” the ECI said.
The poll body also said that national parties enjoy special enablement under the R. P. Act 1951 and thus are expected to be most compliant to the MCC and legal framework.
“It is a fair assumption that INC possesses the material /empirical/ verifiable evidence based on which these specific/explicit ‘facts’ have been published, an action which can fairly be assessed to embed knowledge, motive and intent to do so by the author,” they added.
The Commission has directed the Congress party to convey the empirical evidence of the same for example the evidences for rates for kinds of appointments and transfers, kinds of jobs and jobs and kinds of commission mentioned in the advertisement given by them along with if any explanation and also put that in public domain.
The ECI also said that if the Congress party did not give any response, it will be assumed that it has nothing to say and the poll body can take appropriate actions.
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