Chandigarh: First it was 'kaka' and now it is 'peo-puttar' (father-son).

The Election Commission (EC) Sunday directed that the words 'peo-puttar' should not be used in advertisements and campaigning, in an incorrect manner, in the run-up to the Jan 30 assembly poll in Punjab.

The direction followed a complaint by the Akali Dal to the EC against the Punjab Congress using the word 'peo-puttar' in its series of advertisements with cartoons. The state-level media monitoring committee of the EC gave the directions Sunday.

The obvious reference in the Congress ads was to the father-son duo of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who is also the Akali Dal president.

The cartoon ad-campaign highlights the lack of development and the wrong-doings of the Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the last five years (2007-2012) through two fictional characters -- Jeeta and Jaggi.

The EC earlier directed the Congress not to use the word 'kaka' which was found offensive by the committee as it was clearly in reference to Sukhbir Badal. Sukhbir is fondly called "Kaka ji" by his chief minister father.

The EC Sunday directed the Akalis not to use the caricature of Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh in their ad-campaign.

The Akali Dal had hit back at the Congress' 'Jeeta and Jaggi' campaign with their own 'Jhootha and Thaggi' campaign.

IANS