LS polls: Congress complains to EC against BJP's advertisement campaign

The Congress on Tuesday, 2 April, complained to the Election Commission against BJP's advertisement campaign, alleging it was maligning the Opposition party through the use of cropped and distorted videos, and urged the poll body to take immediate action against the authors and issue instructions for recall.

The Congress also filed a complaint against what it called the BJP’s "malicious attempts" to link the Congress campaign to billionaire financier George Soros.

AICC General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said, "The party lodged a complaint against the BJP’s repeated and malicious use of cropped and distorted videos to malign the INC. The ECI was requested to take immediate action against the authors of this low-level campaign, as well as issue instructions for its recall."

A delegation of party leaders comprising Salman Khurshid, Pawan Khera and Gurdeep Sappal on Tuesday met the Election Commission and handed over a memorandum of their complaints to them.

"The Congress Party lodged a complaint against the BJP’s malicious attempts to link the Congress campaign to George Soros," Ramesh said.

"This complaint covers other examples of false propaganda that target the INC as well. Not only are these materials patently false, they are also mala fide and knowingly defamatory. The ECI was requested to take immediate action against the authors of this low-level campaign, as well as issue instructions for its recall," he said in a post on X.

The opposition party has also complained against the alleged violation of the model code of conduct for elections in Andhra Pradesh, where assembly and Lok Sabha polls are held together. It claimed posters and advertisements of state schemes were still bearing the photos of the state chief minister.

The Congress submitted its position that no welfare beneficiaries should be denied their benefits during the course of the election in the state of Andhra Pradesh, a position which the Election Commission appreciated, he said.

"In violation of the Model Code of Conduct, state scheme advertisements in Andhra Pradesh still bore the photograph of the Chief Minister until recently. The Congress had demanded an immediate stop to this practice, and the Election Commission acted on it, ordering the withdrawal of all posters. It requested the Congress Party to notify it of any remaining posters in the state," Ramesh said.

He said the Congress Party sought a clarification on the expenditure allocation and division between the candidate and the party for expenses on campaign materials.