'ECI Has Grossly Failed': Calcutta HC Slams Poll Body For Inaction, Bars BJP From Making Derogatory Ads About TMC

The Calcutta High Court on Monday while restraining the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) from publishing any kind of derogatory advertisements against the Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (TMC)

The court restrained BJP and media houses from running those ads which the court said violated the political rights of the TMC and its functionaries.

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The Calcutta High Court on Monday while restraining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from publishing any kind of derogatory advertisements against the Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (TMC) slammed the Election Commission Of India (ECI) over its gross failure to act on complaints against the BJP by the ruling party in West Bengal. 

A single judge bench of Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya while passing the order on barring BJP from running derogatory ads said that the ECI failed to address the complaints against BJPs' ads targeting the TMC. The court found the ads by BJP contradictory to the 

"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," the Bar & Bench reported quoting the order.

The court restrained BJP and media houses from running those ads which the court said violated the political rights of the TMC and its functionaries.

According to the report, the high court in its order said that the allegations and publications made against TMC are outright derogatory and definitely intended at insulting the rivals and levelling personal attacks.

The court found the said Ads violated the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) and rights of Indian citizens to free, fair and untainted election process. The high court thus restrained BJP from publishing such Ads until further orders. 

The TMC had filed a petition seeking injunction against the BJP over several ads published in certain newspapers against TMC.

In a big win for TMC, today the high court not only barred BJP but also directed the media outlets to avoid publishing any unverified information against any candidate or a political party.