Election Commission issues show cause notices to Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission tonight issued show cause notices to AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and DMK President M Karunanidhi for violating model code, saying their election manifestos do not "substantially" fulfil its guidelines.

The two notices, which has virtually 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 PM 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 fail to respond to the show cause notice, it will take "further appropriate action" against their parties without further reference to them."

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