EC guidelines on campaign materials

The Election Commission has advised printing press units not to entertain print orders which carry poll boycott call or slogans against the country's sovereignty.

Officials here said the EC had issued a series of guidelines regarding campaign materials and methods ahead of the Lok Sabha polls elections.

The objective of the guidelines was to prevent poll clashes and poll related violence. No election campaign material should contain phrases or slogans or contents that instigated violence and affected religious harmony. They should not defame any political leader or political party.

Posters calling for boycott were anti-democratic in nature and should not be printed or pasted anywhere. Slogans against the country's integrity and sovereignty, posters on the Sri lankan issue also should not be printed.

The printing units doing job work for the political parties should show the content of what they printed and get the clearance of the local police before going ahead with the printing. Otherwise their licence would be cancelled, officials said.