The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has approached the Calcutta High Court, contesting a recent decision made by a single bench that prohibited the party from issuing certain advertisements deemed offensive and in violation of the model code of conduct (MCC). The contentious advertisements were previously published on May 4, 5, 10, and 12.
The appeal was heard by a division bench consisting of Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, who agreed to expedite the proceedings with a hearing set for Wednesday. The Chief Justice instructed the BJP’s counsel to notify the opposing party promptly.
The conflict stems from Monday’s ruling by the single bench, which criticized the Election Commission for not timely addressing the complaints lodged by the Trinamool Congress (TMC). The bench had observed that the Commission had “grossly failed” to act effectively.
BJP counsel Jaydip Kar expressed dissatisfaction with the single bench’s remarks, describing them as “caustic” towards the Election Commission. He highlighted that the party was still within the timeframe to respond to a show cause notice from the commission, which was due by Tuesday.
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During Monday’s proceedings, Election Commission counsel Laxmi Gupta had requested the single bench to defer its judgment by a day, arguing that the poll panel was the proper authority to resolve the issue and that an early court decision could potentially influence the Commission’s deliberations.
