Karnataka Elections 2023 Highlights | 'Plummeting level of campaign discourse': EC asks parties to exercise restraint

The Election Commission hasissued an advisory to political parties and their star campaigners, asking them to exercise caution and restraint in their utterances during campaigning in Karnataka and not to vitiate the election atmosphere.

Taking serious note of the "plummeting level of campaign discourse" during electioneering, the poll panel referred to the instances of "inappropriate vocabulary and language" used during the ongoing campaign by persons, "in particular, by those invested with the statutory status of star campaigner".

"Such instances have occasioned various complaints, cross complaints and have also attracted negative media attention," the EC said in a statement. (PTI)

“People will withdraw them after this election. So, there is no question of them withdrawing (NEP). People will withdraw the Congress party from the frame,” says Union Minister Pralhad Joshi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday hit out at the Congress for promising to ban the Bajrang Dal in its election manifesto. He called it the party's attempt at trying to lock up those who worship Hanuman.

He claimed that the Congress had earlier locked up Lord Rama and now it wanted to lock up those who chant 'Jai Bajrang Bali' (Hail Hanuman).

PM Modi's attack on the Congress came within hours of the opposition party releasing its election manifesto for the May 10 Assembly elections, which stated that it would ban organisations such as the Bajrang Dal and PFI for violating the law and the constitution.

Targeting Congress leader Siddaramaiah in his home constituency, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday asked the people to decide between a leader who is about to retire and a future leader, as he assured to make BJP candidate V Somanna, "a big personality" if they make him an MLA.

In a surprise move the BJP, taking the battle to the opposition camp, has fielded Somanna, a Minister from Bengaluru, against Siddaramaiah, who is contesting his "last election" from his native constituency.

The Congress on May 2 released its election manifesto for the upcoming Karnataka elections, proposing tunnel roads and also its plans to revive the controversial elevated corridor project, which was opposed by a number of citizen groups in Bengaluru.

The opposition party stated that they will construct tunnel roads in the Central Business District area under the public-private partnership (PPP) model to decongest Bengaluru's traffic. In its manifesto, the party stated that it will construct North-South and South-East long elevated flyovers in the city. Citizen groups have opposed elevated corridor and tunnel projects on the grounds that they may increase the number of private vehicles on city roads.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday alleged that Congress' history is about "appeasing terror and terrorists", and the party had questioned the country's defence forces, when the surgical strikes and air strikes had been carried out.
Also accusing the Congress and JD(S) of "encouraging terror", the Prime Minister said they can never increase investment in Karnataka and cannot create new opportunities for the youth in the state.
"People of Karnataka should never forget Congress' history and thinking. Congress' history is about appeasing terror and terrorists. When the Batla House encounter happened in Delhi, there were tears in the eyes of Congress' top most leader, hearing about the death of terrorists," Modi said.

A win in the Karnataka polls will be a "super booster dose" for the Congress electorally after the Bharat Jodo Yatra revitalised the party ideologically and organisationally, senior leader Jairam Ramesh has said.
The Congress general secretary (in-charge communications) said that while the 2024 parliamentary elections are still some months away, the outcome in Karnataka would definitely impact the crucial assembly polls later this year in states such as Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
"A win (in Karnataka polls) will be a super booster dose for the Congress. It will strengthen the Congress as we go to the polls in Telangana, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram," Ramesh, who is on the campaign trail in Karnataka, told PTI in an interview.
"I don't want to look to 2024 but I would look at 2023 and for that it (win in Karnataka) would be a super booster dose for the Congress," the former Union minister said.

Karnataka Elections 2023: Both BJP and Congress are aiming to grab JD(S)’s Vokkaliga base. For Congress, DK Shivakumar’s chief ministerial ambitions is its only card but BJP has attempted inroads into the community at multiple levels. But who will the dent in JD(S)’s Vokkaliga votes help?... Read More

For the first time since the Assam assembly polls in 2021, the issue of National Register of Citizens (NRC) has made a return to the BJP election manifesto for any state as the party on Monday promised to implement it in Karnataka to ensure deportation of "all illegal immigrants" if voted to power.
Like several other recent assembly polls, the BJP also continued with its strategy of making the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) as part of its state-specific manifesto by promising to execute the policy, a part of its foundational nationwide agenda, in Karnataka based on the recommendations of a high-level committee to be set up if it retains power there.
The party had so far, though, refrained from touching on the NRC in its state poll manifestoes except in Assam, where the issue of illegal immigrants has long been a concern, especially among indigenous communities.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on May 2 took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he speaks only about himself even in Karnataka and not about anything else.
He also sought to know why Modi was silent on the issue of corruption in Karnataka and never takes the name of his party's Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, his predecessor B S Yediyurappa and the state Home Minister Araga Jnanendra.
Gandhi reminded the people that the May 10 Assembly elections in Karnataka is not about Narendra Modi but about their future and their children. Read full details here

Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda on May 1 said the entire coastal region in Karnataka is a fortress of the secular forces including the Janata Dal(S).
Addressing reporters here, Gowda, who is here to campaign for party candidate Mohiuddin Bava in Mangaluru North constituency, said the JD(S) always had close relations with the people of Dakshina Kannada."We had five zilla panchayat members and three MLAs who got elected from here in the past," he said.

In the manifesto for the polls released here by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in the presence of the state unit chief D K Shivakumar and CLP leader Siddaramaiah and others, the party reiterated its five guarantees: Gruha Jyothi, Gruha Lakshmi, Anna Bhagya, Yuva Nidhi and Shakti.... Read More

The BJP's promise in its manifesto that it will set up 'Atal Aahara Kendra' in each ward of every municipal corporation in Karnataka has put a question mark over the fate of the 'Indira Canteens', which the then Siddaramaiah government launched in August 2017.
The BJP national president J P Nadda released on Monday the 'Praja Pranalike' (Citizens' Manifesto) in the run-up to the May 10 Assembly elections.
"I don't know about the Indira Canteen 'Yojana' but I know that this (Atal Aahara Kendra) is going to take care of the common man," Nadda said in response to a question on the fate of Indira Canteens.
Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, "It is ridiculous that the BJP government is promising to open 'Atal Aahara Kendra' after vindictively shutting down 600 Indira Canteens set up by the Congress across the state during its tenure."