The Election Commission of India on March 27 slapped show cause notices on the BJP’s Dilip Ghosh and the Congress’ Supriya Shrinate for their “offensive”, “insulting”, and “undignified” comments against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and actor and BJP candidate Kangana Ranaut respectively.
Their remarks were “undignified and in bad taste” and violated the Model Code of Conduct, the ECI said in separate official statements. The MCC has been in force since March 16 when the schedule for the Lok Sabha election was announced.
Ms. Shrinate claimed that “many others” have access to her social media accounts, blaming one of them for the “extremely inappropriate” comments made on her X handle. After being slammed by his own party’s leadership, Mr. Ghosh said he was “sad” as his language had been described as unparliamentary, but claimed he had merely countered Ms. Banerjee’s political statements.
‘No personal attacks’
The poll body said the comments also violated its advisory to political parties to maintain dignity during electioneering. Both leaders have been asked to respond to the show cause notices by the evening of March 29.
The ECI reminded the two leaders of the provision of the MCC which states that criticism of other political parties, when made, shall be confined to their policies and programme and past record and work.
“Low level personal attacks to insult the rivals shall not be made. The political parties and candidates to refrain from any deeds/action/utterances that may be construed as being repugnant to the honour and dignity of women,” the Commission said, also warning against social media posts vilifying and insulting rivals.
‘Extremely inappropriate’
The action against Ms. Shrinate was taken following a complaint by the BJP which alleged that she had posted a picture of Ms. Ranaut along with “derogatory remarks” on X. The actor has been fielded by the BJP from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi Lok Sabha seat.
Ms. Shrinate, who has said that she deleted the post as soon as she came to know of it, has also claimed that “many people” have access to her Facebook and Instagram accounts, one of whom made the “extremely inappropriate” post.
Indecent, unparliamentary: BJP
The notice to Mr. Ghosh, Medinipur MP and the BJP candidate from the Bardhaman Durgapur Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal, was issued after a complaint by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) over his remarks saying that as Ms. Banerjee calls herself the daughter of the State, “she must identify her own father”.
The BJP leadership issued a statement condemning the incident. It sought an explanation from Mr. Ghosh in a letter stating that “your [Dilip Ghosh] comment today is indecent, unparliamentary and against the tradition of our party. The party strongly condemns such comments.”
‘The women’s card’
In response, Mr. Ghosh said that he had merely countered and questioned the political statements Ms. Banerjee had given to mislead people before the elections. “The question is that many people have objections to my use of language and words. Our [BJP] party as well as other parties have called it unparliamentary. If so, I am sad about it,” the former West Bengal BJP president said.
He added that he would reply to the party’s show cause notice. “I have given a political statement. The issue of honour is raised only if it is a woman. The women’s card is brought out again and again. I had just responded to that. I have nothing more to say than this,” he said. Mr. Ghosh has previously courted controversies and been cautioned by the BJP to be wary of his remarks.
