'Maintain high standard of discourse': Election Commission to parties, star campaigners in Karnataka

The EC also notes that as per the MCC provisions, use of provocative and inflammatory statements, use of intemperate and abusive language transgressing the limits of decency and attacks on the personal character and conduct of political rivals vitiate the level playing field.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday (May 2) issued an advisory to political parties and their star campaigners, asking them to exercise caution and restraint in their utterances during campaigning in Karnataka and not to vitiate the election atmosphere.

Taking serious note of the "plummeting level of campaign discourse" during electioneering, the poll panel referred to the instances of "inappropriate vocabulary and language" used during the ongoing campaign by persons, "by those invested with the statutory status of star campaigner".

In a statement, the EC said, "Such instances have occasioned various complaints, cross complaints and have also attracted negative media attention."

The EC also notes that as per the MCC provisions, use of provocative and inflammatory statements, use of intemperate and abusive language transgressing the limits of decency and 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.

Campaigning for the May 10 polls is heating up with the Congress and the BJP being engaged in a war of words.