New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has sent notices to BJP and Congress after its star campaigners made recent statements violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
Addressing BJP President J P Nadda and Congress Chief Mallikarjun Kharge, the Commission ordered star campaigners to “refrain from utterances along religious/communal lines” and not spread “false impression that the Constitution may be abolished”.
“Technical loopholes or extreme interpretations of other political party's utterances cannot discharge them from this core responsibility of their own content, which ought to be corrective to the ongoing discourse and not further plummeting the quality of campaign discourse,” the Commission said.
The election body further said, “elections are a process when political parties not only contest to win, but also avail the opportunity to present themselves in their ideal best for the voting community to experience, emulate and build hopes on."
"The second part constitutes the more precious heritage of Indian elections and our electoral democracy which should not be allowed to be weakened by anyone, including your party,” it added.
While the ECI notice did not name the star campaigners of either party who made the statements or speeches, the complaints were mostly against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
