Karnataka Election 2023: Congress claims EC 'bias', seeks time for response over ‘rate card’ ad
Karnataka Election 2023: The Congress said despite the grand-old party bringing to the EC's notice on numerous occasions the "brazen and repeated" violations of electoral guidelines by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders, the commission has not issued one notice or condemnation.
FollowThe Congress has accused the Election Commission of "bias" in its decision to suspend the party's "corruption rate card" advertising attacking the BJP administration in Karnataka, claiming that its leaders are held to a standard that appears to be reserved solely for the opposition.
Despite the Congress calling to the EC's attention on several times Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders' "brazen and repeated" breaches of election norms, the commission has not issued a single notice or reprimand, the Congress claimed on Sunday.
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In the Congress' "preliminary response," party leader and lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi also stated that the EC's 24-hour deadline for replying to the notification was insufficient, with the Karnataka assembly election campaign coming to an end.
The EC had issued a notice to the Karnataka Congress on Saturday about their "corruption rate card" advertising carried in newspapers in the run-up to the May 10 state elections, and had requested "empirical evidence" to back up its charges by Sunday evening. The notice was issued following a complaint lodged by the BJP.
The Congress has published a series of posters and adverts outlining the state's "corruption rates" between 2019 and 2023, while branding the BJP administration a "trouble engine."
"...the Commission's actions are prima facie in violation of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution, which provide a fundamental guarantee against arbitrariness in administrative action as well as bias, mala fide official acts, violations of natural justice, and which provide the most vital guarantee of equality," the Congress stated.
According to the Congress, this might be the first occasion in history that the EC called a national party to produce evidence in support of a political advertising. The opposition party, on the other hand, pointed out that the political advertising under inspection makes no reference of the BJP or any of its members or candidates.
(With PTI inputs)
