According to notices and orders available on EC’s website, the poll panel took up 14 MCC matters directly and issued notices in 13 of them. In one case, the EC issued a censure to Congress leader and Telangana minister Konda Surekha on April 26 directly, without issuing notice, based on a complaint by the BRS. The EC found that Surekha had violated the MCC provisions against making personal attacks and unverified allegations when she accused BRS leader KT Rama Rao of “tapping phones”.

Out of the 14 matters, five pertained to violations by the BJP leaders, four were against Congress leaders and one each was against the TDP, the AA P, the YSRCP, the BRS and the TMC. Of the 14, the EC is yet to make public if it has taken any action in three cases — one notice to Delhi minister Atishi on April 5 and two notices to BJP West Bengal chief Sukanta Majumdar on May 18.

These 14 cases were either taken up directly by the EC or escalated by state Chief Electoral Officers, but do not include the notices issued by CEOs.

In a first, the EC this time issued notices to party presidents for the alleged MCC violations of their party’s star campaigners, instead of sending them directly to the leaders. On April 25, the EC had issued notices to BJP president JP Nadda over complaints against PM Narendra Modi, and to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge in connection with the complaints against him and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

The notice to Nadda was over complaints from three Opposition parties against Modi for alleging that the Congress would hand over the nation’s wealth to “infiltrators” and “those who have more children”. Kharge was issued a notice on a BJP complaint against Gandhi for alleging that the PM wanted “one language and one religion in the country” and one against the Kharge himself for saying President Droupadi Murmu was not invited to the Ram Temple consecration because of her Scheduled Tribe background.

After receiving replies from the two party presidents, the EC issued detailed directions to them on May 22, reiterating the provisions of the MCC. While issuing the notices, the EC had said it would address party presidents on a case-to-case basis, but this did not absolve the leaders of the responsibility of following the MCC. Till Sunday evening, the EC had not issued any direct notices or advisories to Modi and Rahul.

The leaders censured were BJP leader and candidate from West Bengal Dilip Ghosh; Congress leaders Surekha and Supriya Shrinate; YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy; TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu; and TMC leader Humayun Kabir.

Congress leader Randeep Surjewala was issued a 48-hour ban from campaigning for a remark about BJP Mathura candidate Hema Malini which the EC found “vulgar”. The action against Ghosh and Shrinate, too, were due to their remarks against women leaders — West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and BJP candidate from Mandi Kangana Ranaut, respectively.

Another BJP candidate, former Calcutta HC judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay was handed a 24-hour campaign ban for his remarks on Mamata that the EC found “improper” and violative of MCC. Former Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao was given a 48-hour ban for his remarks against the Congress that were found to be “misleading and unverified”.

In a few cases, like the one of Ghosh, Shrinate and Gangopadhyay, the EC acted within three days of receiving complaints. The directions to Kharge and Nadda, on the other hand, were issued after over 20 days of receiving the complaints in the matters.

While announcing the elections schedule on March 16, CEC Rajiv Kumar had said the EC would “adopt a calibrated approach” towards MCC violations, where repeat offenders “would face strict action”. The EC had said in a statement on May 14 that 425 major complaints had been filed by parties with the poll panel and state CEOs. Action had been taken or the matter disposed of in 400 of those cases, the EC said.