EC notice to Jayalalithaa, Karunanidhi for election code violation

Chennai: The Election Commission on May 14 issued showcause notices to AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa and DMK president M Karunanidhi over the violation of model code, as to why action should not be taken since their election manifestos did not “substantially” fulfil its guidelines.

The two notices, with similar wordings, say that prima facie the manifestos of the two parties “have not substantially fulfilled the guidelines of the Commission”.

The poll panel gave them time till 5 p.m on May 15 to respond “to explain your stand for non-compliance of the guidelines of the Commission and also reflect the rationale for the promises made in your manifesto and broadly indicate the ways and means to meet the financial requirement for the same.”

The Commission warned that if the two leaders failed to respond to the show cause notice, it will take “further appropriate action” against their parties without further reference to them.”

The showcause notice is based on complaints from people regarding the election manifestos.

The two parties had made offers of several freebies running to thousands of crores if people voted for them.