BackKarnataka Polls: State to begin silence period, EC warns, ‘no political party shall…’
Ahead of the lull that settles before a storm, the ECI emphasised on ‘clean and serious’ campaign as electioneering reached feverish pitch for the polls to all political parties
PremiumKarnataka is slated to enter the silence period before the high stakes polling slated to be held on 10 May. The Elections Commission of India notified political parties and media houses of a ‘clear and serious campaign’.
The poll campaigning for the upcoming elections are set to end on Monday, 8 May.
Ahead of the lull that settles before a storm, the ECI emphasised on "clean and serious" campaign as electioneering reached feverish pitch for the polls to all political parties in the fray- Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), Indian National Congress, Janata Dal (Secular) among others.
In a separate letter to editors, the Election Commission (EC) made it clear to them that the Press Council of India's norms for journalistic conduct hold them responsible for all matters, including advertisements, published in their newspapers.
Election Commission wrote to editors, says they are responsible for advertisements published in their newspapers.
"If responsibility is disclaimed, this shall be explicitly stated beforehand," the Commission said in a letter to editors of newspapers in Karnataka.
The advisory to political parties stated that advertisements during the silence period -- on the election day and one day prior to the poll day -- will have to be pre-certified by the media certification and monitoring committee (MCMC).
"No political party or candidate or any other organisation or person shall publish any advertisement in the print media on poll day and one day prior to poll day unless the contents of political advertisement are got pre-certified by them from the MCMC at the state/district level, as the case may be," the advisory stated.
As the campaigning for the May 10 elections reached a fever pitch with politicians hurling barbs such as "poisonous snake", "vishakanya" and "nalayak beta" at each other, the Election Commission on May 2 issued an advisory asking political parties and their star campaigners to exercise caution and restraint in their utterances and not to vitiate the election atmosphere.
The Commission said it had received requests to extend the pre-certification deadlines, but has refrained from taking such a step given the shortness of the campaign period.
The campaigning for the Karnataka assembly poll ends at 5 pm on Monday.
Forty-eight hours before the end of polling are considered the silence period.
The Commission reiterated that the instructions of a clean and serious campaign discourse should be understood and maintained by all stakeholders at all times during the campaign period, regardless of the timeline of pre-certification for advertisement in print media.
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