Congress at EC over 'defamatory' advertisement against Siddaramaiah

New Delhi/Bengaluru: The Congress on Friday presented a memorandum to the Election Commission (EC) against the Karnataka unit of BJP for “publishing and broadcasting false, deceptive and defamatory advertisements” in print and electronic media. 

The party said such commercials were an infringement of model code of conduct by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was doing this for votes. 

The Congress complained that the BJP in Karnataka leveled “false, trivial, outlandish, unwarranted and unverified charges” against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to “censure his picture”. 

The complaint was made as the model code is in drive in the state which goes to surveys on May 12. 

The gathering requested that the Commission look into the matter and take a strict action against the same.

The memorandum was put together by Congress leaders Mohan Prakash, P.L. Punia, Vivek Tankha, Avinash Pandey, Sushmita Dev and Pranav Jha to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Om Prakash Rawat. 

“That a print promotion was distributed in different daily papers in Karnataka with a purpose to defame the picture of Chief Minister of the state by making false and unconfirmed claims against him. 

“In these advertisements, the Karnataka BJP has made genuine assertions and comments utilizing unconfirmed and obscure measurements like ‘goondaraj’,  killing of lakes, garbage mess, etc.,” the memorandum said.

“These promotions explicitly utilize the Chief Minister’s name and resemblance to defame his character. Utilization of words ‘Siddha Sarkar’ and a cut-out of Chief Minister makes it explicit that the claims are of individual nature…,” it included. 

The memorandum stated that similar advertisements had also appeared on various television channels.

“We ask for the Election Commission to look into the issue and take strict and provoke action…against the Karnataka BJP for infringement of model code,” said the party.