The Election Commission (EC) on Thursday admonished Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for calling BJP's prime ministerial candidate and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi a “mass murderer” during election campaign.

Rejecting the explanation offered by Siddaramaiah on the use of the term against Modi, the poll panel asked him to be “extremely careful”.

“Your explanation relating to the use of the word against the leader of a major political party has not been accepted, as that explanation has been specifically used to criticise Narendra Modi personally and not by way of criticising his government’s policies.

“Now, therefore, the commission has decided to admonish you for the derogatory word used by you against Narendra Modi and has further advised you to be extremely careful in future,” the EC said in its order.

Siddaramaiah, while campaigning at H D Kote in Mys­ore on March 23, had termed Modi as a “Narahantaka” (mass murderer). “...actually he is not Narendra Modi, he is a Narahantaka,” he had said.