Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar stressed the importance of adhering to the Model Code of Conduct and warned political parties not to cross red lines while campaigning.

Mr Kumar on Saturday said the level of political discourse in the country was declining and strong advice had been issued to all political parties. “After collecting data on all violations of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), we issued final recommendations. This is our position. We are issuing notices to the political parties. We have requested the political parties to provide copies of our report. Guidelines for every star activist,” he said.

“It will be the responsibility of the political parties to bring the guidelines to the attention of every star campaigner. So we have brought the guidelines to their attention and we will assume that they understand the guidelines. People are asking ‘You issued so many notifications last time, But nothing was done’. That was a moral review. Now we will move beyond that. We will also look at the past and history and take a calibrated approach,” he added.

Some important guidelines are to foster a political discourse that inspires rather than divides, with one focus being ensuring there is no hate speech. Not making caste or religious appeals and not criticizing “any aspect of private life” were also part of the recommendations.