Acting on complaints filed by the BJP, the Election Commission on Wednesday issued two show-cause notices to the Congress state unit over its advertisements — one claiming a wave in its favour and another asking people to give missed calls to avail benefits of its poll promises, reports PTI.
The apex poll body has asked state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra to respond to the notices by 3 pm on Thursday and 7 pm on Friday, respectively.
The notice comes days before the elections in the state. Rajasthan goes to polls on November 25 and counting of votes will be on December 3.
According to the first notice, the EC said that the advertisement has been “designed to look like a news item with the view to disorient the electors”.
The advertisements saying “Rajasthan mein Congress ki leher”, or a Congress wave in Rajasthan, were placed as the leading headline on the front pages of the newspapers, which had been “camouflaged as political predictions and/or news headlines”.
“It is not only misleading but also seems aimed at causing a confusion in the minds of the voters regarding the outcome of the election, thereby attempting to disturb the level-playing field,” the poll panel observed, as quoted by PTI.
The second notice said that Congress had published an published advertisement in newspapers and on social media allegedly asking people to call a phone number for the “advance booking” of certain benefits proposed in its election manifesto.
The Election Commission said the advertisement in newspapers and on social media, asking people to give missed calls on a mobile phone number to avail benefits of its “guarantees”, was examined and “has been found to be prima facie violative of…provisions of the Model Code of Conduct.”
In its complaint to the poll panel, the BJP had accused the Congress of resorting to “corrupt” practices by asking people to give missed calls on a mobile number to get benefits of its “guarantees”, or poll promises, if it retains power in the state.
“Ex facie, inviting individual elector to register himself or herself, appears to be designed to create an impression of requirement of one to one relationship between elector and proposed benefit or electoral promise,” the election commission said.
The poll body said that such “specific and individual transactions makes the design transactional in the nature of inducement to elector akin to a token system” that is prohibited under the model code of conduct.