Cong moves HC over ‘ false’ ads

New Delhi, April 27: Accusing the Karnataka BJP of violating the model code of conduct, the Congress approached the Election Commission over “misleading and obnoxious” advertisements published by the saffron party to malign the image of chief minister Siddaramaiah.

In its memorandum to the EC, the Congress also demanded action against members of the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee ( MCMC) for approving such “scandalous” advertisements. The party demanded that the EC ban the publication of such advertisements like it did in Bihar on November 4, 2015. A delegation of Congress general secretaries Mohan Prakash and Avinash Pandey, party leaders P. L. Punia, Vivek Tankha and Mahila Congress president Sushmita Dev submitted the memorandum to the EC. “That the Karnataka BJP has made grave and vile allegations which are absolutely vague and baseless. These allegations are not based on any verified reports or statistics and broadcasted with an intent to malign the personal image of chief minister,” read the Congress’ memorandum. “Such advertisements are not only misleading, but also amount to exercise of undue influence on unsuspecting and innocent voters,” it said.

It said the MCMC ought to have disallowed the screening and publishing of such advertisements when these advertisements were sent for its scrutiny and approval. According to Congress, one of the advertisements alleged that Mr Siddaramaiah had turned Karnataka into hell and is responsible for breaking up society.