Calcutta HC pulls up EC, restrains BJP from publishing ‘derogatory’ ads against TMC

The Calcutta High Court has restrained the BJP from publishing any “derogatory” advertisements against the TMC and pulled up the Election Commission of India for “grossly failing” to address the Trinamool’s complaints, Bar and Bench reported.

The single-judge bench of Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya also noted that certain ads which were published during the ‘silence period’ by BJP violated the Model Code of Conduct. The court was hearing a petition filed by the governing party in West Bengal seeking injunction over several ads published against the TMC in newspapers.

“A perusal of the impugned ads published on various dates in this month, clearly evince that those are in violation of the letter and spirit of the MCC, which clearly prohibits all participants in the election process from criticism of other parties or their workers based on unverified allegations or distortion,” the court said, according to Bar and Bench.

“The ECI has grossly failed to address the complaints of the TMC in due time. This Court is surprised that resolution of the complaints after the conclusion of elections is nothing to the court and as such in due failure on part of the ECI in due time this court is constrained to pass an injunction order,” Justice Bhattacharya reportedly said. 

The court said the media must not publish unverified information against any political party or candidate during elections as contemplated in the Press Council of India’s guidelines. 

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