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The Congress filed a complaint with the Election Commission on Sunday about the BJP advertisement targeting the JMMCongressRJD alliance leader, saying that baseless allegations and statements were made while portraying it in a negative light with the aim of spreading a false narrative.
Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren with his wife Kalpana Soren during a meeting with Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, party President Mallikarjun Kharge and party MP KC Venugopal. (PTI file photo)
The Congress filed a complaint with the Election Commission on Sunday about the BJP’s advertisement targeting the leaders of the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance, saying that baseless allegations and statements were made while portraying it in a negative light with the aim of spreading a false narrative.
In a memorandum sent to the Election Commission (EC), general secretary of communications Jairam Ramesh asked the poll body to issue a directive to immediately remove all the ad videos and to take immediate action against the BJP and its official Facebook. handle for Jharkhand.
The ad, which appears to take a dig at Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav by featuring three characters who look alike, shows them to be “anti-tribal” and how they are now wanted. to find his voice.
“We are writing to you about the advertisement published by the official Facebook handle of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the state of Jharkhand which is BJP4Jharkhand. Model Code of Conduct and other election laws,” said Ramesh in a memorandum to the EC shown on X.
In an advertisement published on November 9, false allegations and statements were made against leaders of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Indian National Congress (INC) and RJD, he said.
“Furthermore, leaders are portrayed in a negative and false light, with the sole aim of spreading false and baseless narratives against them,” Ramesh said.
“In the advertisement, the BJP first tried to use actors who resembled the leaders of JMM, INC and RJD. Consequently, the advertisement tried to raise some false allegations against the leaders of JMM, INC and RJD. The allegations were that the leaders were anti-Adivasi (anti-tribal ) who came together under the garb of pro-Adivasis to ultimately serve their own personal agenda,” Ramesh said.
A clip from the ad was included and a transcribed version was reproduced, he added.
It was submitted that according to the Model Code of Conduct, no political party, leader or candidate can participate in an election campaign based on false information about the opposing political party or candidate, Ramesh said.
In addition, no political party, leader or candidate can engage in activities that would amount to corrupt practices under the Representation of the People Act, 1951, he said.
The Congress general secretary said, “The advertisement published by the BJP is full of baseless allegations and falsehoods, whose aim is only to influence the voters not to vote for the opposition party and for the BJP to get an unfair election result in the state. Jharkhand.” The content of the advertisement published by the BJP was in violation of the provisions of the Model Code of Conduct and the Representation of the People Act, he said.
Further, since the assembly election process is underway in Jharkhand, the BJP is required to get its advertisement approved by the EC, as per the election norms issued by the poll body, Ramesh said.
According to Article 324 of the Constitution, the Commission has the duty to ensure that the poll process across the country complies with the principles of free and fair elections and the doctrine of level playing field, Ramesh said.
“Furthermore, the Honorable Commission is obliged to examine all cases of violation of Election norms and the Model Code of Ethics committed by political parties, leaders or candidates during the election,” he said.
“Considering the above stated principles and the content of the advertisement, we request the Honorable Commission to direct the removal of all the videos and therefore take immediate action against the BJP and handle the official Facebook for the state of Jharkhand,” Ramesh said in a memorandum.
The memorandum was made during the election campaign in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly to be held on November 13 and November 20. The votes will be counted on November 23.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from the feed of syndicated news agency – PTI)
