The Election Commission of India on Monday censured Bharatiya Janata Party MP Dilip Ghosh and Congress member Supriya Shrinate for their remarks about West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and actor Kangana Ranaut, who is the BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate from Mandi.
The poll body said that their remarks amounted to personal attacks and violated the Model Code of Conduct, a set of guidelines that political parties and governments must follow while campaigning.
Shrinate had posted Ranaut’s photo on social media with a derogatory caption after she was announced as the BJP's Lok Sabha candidate from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi constituency on March 24.
Shrinate deleted her post and claimed that the message had been uploaded without her knowledge.
On March 26, Ghosh, who is the BJP candidate from the state’s Bardharman-Durgapur constituency, had said: “When didi [Banerjee] goes to Goa, she calls herself the daughter of Goa. When she goes to Tripura, she says that she is the daughter of Tripura. She should first identify her own father.”
This was a reference to the Trinamool Congress’s poll slogan during the 2021 Bengal Assembly elections: “Bangla Nijer Meyekei Chaye [Bengal wants its own daughter]”.
The Election Commission sent show cause notices to Shrinate and Ghosh on March 27. The Congress leader replied to the notice on March 28, and the BJP MP on March 29.
On Monday, the Election Commission said in its orders that it “strongly condemns” their derogatory statements and warned them to be careful in the future.
The Election Commission also issued warnings to the BJP and Congress party presidents, JP Nadda and Mallikarjun Kharge, asking them to issue special advisories to party functionaries involved in poll campaigns not to commit such violations.
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