Mamata Banerjee biopic trailers removed from websites: Election Commission

Chief Minister of the eastern Indian state of West Bengal and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee gestures during an election campaign rally in Kurseong hills some 42 kms from Siliguri on April 12, 2019. - India's gargantuan election, the biggest in history, kicked off on April 11 with Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a second term from the South Asian behemoth's 900 million voters. (Photo by DIPTENDU DUTTA / AFP)

The Election Commission has got the trailers of a biopic on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee removed from three websites for alleged violation of its directives. Stating that the film was yet to get a certification from the Central Board of Film Certification, the Commission said it had received a report on the issue and it was being examined. The EC had, in its April 10 order, said: “any biopic material in the nature of biography/hagiography subserving the purposes of any political party or any individual entity connected to it, which is intended to, or which has the potential to disturb the level playing field during the elections, should not be displayed in electronic media including cinematograph during the operation of model code of conduct”. According to the poll panel, 574 Facebook posts, 49 tweets, two YouTube videos and three WhatsApp messages have been deleted so far for the violations.

Through its cVIGIL mobile application, the Commission has so far received more than 1.10 lakh complaints of which 78% have been found to be correct and action is being taken against the violators, the EC said.