The Election Commission on Tuesday issued a notice to Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh and banned the party’s Habra candidate Rahul Sinha from campaigning for 48 hours for their inflammatory remarks in support of the CISF firing in Cooch Behar’s Sitalkuchi on Saturday that had killed four voters.
The action took place on Sushil Chandra’s first day as the Chief Election Commissioner. Sinha had not been given notice to defend himself.
However, another BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari — who contested against Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram — was let off with a warning for his communal remarks.
On Monday, Mamata was banned from campaigning for a day for her calls to minorities not to divide their votes and to women to gherao central force personnel if they intimidated them. Monday was the last day of Chandra’s predecessor Sunil Arora in office.
The order to Adhikari was yet to be uploaded on the EC’s website when this report was filed, while Tuesday’s orders to Ghosh and Sinha have already come up.
A top EC official told this paper that he would check why the Adhikari order had not been uploaded. The official added: “The nature of violation, the reply of the candidate, the frequency of statement, as well as gravity of the statement was considered. Only after ascertaining various factors, the decision is taken by the Commission in the most objective and neutral manner.”
In a speech telecast on a private Bengali news channel on Monday, Sinha was quoted by the EC saying: “....The central forces should have killed eight persons instead of four in Sitalkuchi. The central forces should be issued a showcause notice as to why they have killed only four of them.”
The EC found Sinha’s remarks violative of the Model Code of Conduct and various provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and the Indian Penal Code.
Sinha has been banned from campaigning for the next 48 hours commencing from noon on Tuesday.
Ghosh was sent a notice for his speech in Baranagar on Sunday, on a complaint of Trinamul Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’ Brien. The EC quoted him saying: “Those naughty boys were shot at yesterday (Saturday) in Sitalkuchi. These naughty boys will not be there in Bengal This is just the beginning... There will be Sitalkuchi in several places.”
The EC found Ghosh’s speech violated the same sections as Sinha’s speech and asked him to respond by 10am on Wednesday.
The panel is yet to respond to CPIML-Liberation politburo member Kavita Krishnan’s complaint that included Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP’s Bengal general secretary Sayantan Basu’s provocative remarks over the killings.
Adhikari had been served a notice for his speech on April 3 saying that “if you vote for Begum (referring to Mamata) there will be mini-Pakistan”.
The EC said in its order on Monday that Adhikari had denied the charges and claimed “he will be more careful in future...”
Anubrata showcaused
The Birbhum district magistrate and district election officer, Deviprasad Karanam, on Tuesday showcaused Trinamul’s Birbhum president Anubrata Mondal for his speech to drive out BJP workers by beating them up.
Mondal — who is known for his inflammatory speeches — had recently asked Trinamul workers whether they could drive BJP activists out of the boundary by beating them up.
Sources said Mondal had been showcaused after a complaint had been lodged against him through the commission’s online portal. The complainant said such remarks would increase violence in the district.
“We have served a showcause on Mondal and given him 24 hours to reply following a complaint lodged by a person with us,” said Karanam, the district magistrate.
Mondal did not respond to several phone calls made by The Telegraph but a senior Trinamul leader said he would answer to the notice of commission properly.