Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah and deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar. Photo: Twitter/@siddaramaiah

New Delhi: The Election Commission has issued a notice to the Karnataka government, led by the Congress, over its alleged violation of the model code of conduct (MCC) for publishing advertisements in the poll-bound state of Telangana.

The poll body’s notice is in response to a complaint lodged by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the Karnataka government’s advertisements in Hyderabad editions of several newspapers.

The notice said the poll body had examined its own records and found that no such approval was granted to such ads nor was any such application from Karnataka pending for decision.

“The said act of giving advertisements highlighting the welfare schemes and achievements of the government by the Government of Karnataka in newspapers having circulations in poll going the state of Telangana is in gross violation of the Commission’s above directions,” the notification said.

It ordered the Siddaramaiah government to stop the publication of such ads in Telangana forthwith. The poll body has also sought an explanation from Karnataka as to why no disciplinary action should be initiated against its secretary-in-charge of the Department of Information and Public Relations for the alleged poll code violations.