The Election Commission of India has asked the Congress for proof after the party published a newspaper advertisement specifying the purported rates for different kinds of corruption in Karnataka in the past four years.

The commission sent a showcause notice to Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D.K. Shivakumar on his party’s one-page ad on Friday that did not name the BJP or its chief minister, Basavaraj Bommai, but published a “Corruption Rate Card 2019-2023” with a claim of crores being looted in the last four years by a“40% Sarkara”.

The EC said: “While the general references and allusions to the alleged lack of achievement, misdeeds, not ensuring corruption-free governance of political opponents do float in the political campaigns, specific accusations and charges need to be segregated as the same must be backed by verifiable facts. Making specific charges without any factual basis is an action proscribed by the penal statutes, as mentioned in Para 3 & 4 above.”

The commission added: “The advertisement, in its very content & format, makes very specific charges....”

The poll panel told the Congress that the advertisement accused “all levels of government machinery (political & bureaucratic) of being compromised and saleable…. You are, therefore, directed to convey the empirical evidence of the same, for example, the evidence of rates for kinds of appointments & transfers, kinds of jobs and kinds of commission mentioned in the advertisement given by you along with if any explanation by 19.00 hrs on 7th May 2023 and also put that in public domain”.

The notice, issued on a complaint from the BJP, alleges violations of Clause 2 of the Model Code of Conduct, Section 123(4) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and Section 171G of the Indian Penal Code. These sections prohibit and criminalise false, unverified and distorted statements.

The EC has, however, been silent on complaints lodged by the Congress against comments made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath.

The Congress on Thursday lodged a complaint with the EC against Modi for allegedly invoking Hindu gods during his election rallies in Karnataka. Addressed to the chief electoral officer of Karnataka, the complaint accuses Modi of chanting “Jai Bajrang Bali” at a BJP rally in Uttara Kannada district on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister alleged a terror conspiracy and tied the Congress to it while campaigning in Karnataka on Friday. “In the past few years, a new face of terror, a diabolic face, has been born…. The film The Kerala Story is based on such a terror conspiracy…. Not just that, the Congress is engaged in political dealings through the backdoor with these terror forces.”

The EC has not sought proof from the Prime Minister for such claims, nor has it questioned the Union home minister for claiming in Vijayapura on April 25, without proof, that the Congress would lift the ban on the Popular Front of India if elected to power.

Monday is the last date for campaigning in Karnataka.