Spokespersons: Shri Salman Khurshid and Ms. SupriyaShrinate: Shri Salman Khurshid said - We had gone to the Election Commission with our objections about what is happening recently and the way the Bharatiya Janata Party is campaigning, the way their advertisements are being given and all kinds of things are being said in them, which cause great pain to anyone who is attached to Indian democracy, we took those things to the Election Commission.

What we have objection to is the manner in which the propaganda about the government is being done everywhere - at petrol pumps, on top of trains, at bus stops, and everywhere. That it contains a picture of the Prime Minister, it cannot be used during elections, it cannot be a part of the campaign. Objection to this matter has been put before the Commission. After taking cognizance of some things, they have taken action on them, some things have been removed too.

Smt. Supriya Shrinate said- Let me tell you some of the things in sequence on which we have registered our objections there.

Bharatiya Janata Party is running a very confusing video through its official handle, the ministry has also run it, many leaders have run it, all the ministers have run something regarding 2G. The court has said that there is no culpability in the 2G case, so why is such a confusing video being shown after 10 years. Apart from this, the ads with Modi’s guarantee hashtag will be removed, be it metros or any other hoardings. Apart from this, there is an obscene post, a very obscene post, which some state governments of BJP, including Odisha, have expressed their displeasure over. As soon as the Election Commission saw that picture, we have asked to take action on it too, the way it is blatantly used. We spoke on the issue of using religion, religious things, to confuse, to play sarcasm again and again and the way the Prime Minister himself is doing it.

There were about 9 such items on which we expressed our objection. Model Code of Conduct has been implemented and due to level-playing field, the commission will take suo-moto cognizance of misleading ads, complete fake news, and outright lies being spread and take action against them. – Thursday, March 21, 2024.