Day after the Trinamool Congress moved the Election Commission of India over derogatory comments made by and BJP candidate Abhijit Gangopadhyay, the poll panel on Friday issued a show-cause notice to the former Calcutta High Court judge saying that his remarks violated the Model Code of Conduct. He has been asked to respond by 5 PM on May 20.
Gangopadhyay is the BJP candidate from the Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal.
TMC alleged that he made ‘derogatory’ remarks against Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee while addressing a public meeting held on May 15 in Haldia. The ruling state party also shared the English translation of the BJP leader’s speech in its complaint.
The EC in its notice noted that Gangopadhyay’s comment is “improper, injudicious, beyond dignity in every sense of term, in bad taste” and prima facie violative of the provisions of the Model Code of Conduct and its advisory to political parties.
The notice reminded Gangopadhyay about its recent advisory which said that political parties and candidates should refrain from any deeds or action or utterances that may be construed as being repugnant to the honour and dignity of women.
Gangopadhyay is the fourth politician in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections to have been served a notice for undignified remarks against women.
BJP’s Dilip Ghosh and Congress’s Supriya Shrinate were censured by the EC after being served notices for their remarks against Mamata Banerjee and Kangana Ranaut respectively. Randeep Surjewala of the Congress was barred from campaigning for 48 hours for his remarks against BJP’s Hema Malini.
Meanwhile, the BJP said that the video of the election rally where Gangopadhyay can be heard making the derogatory remarks was “fake”.