Election Commission bars Dilip Ghosh from campaigning for 24 hours, serves notice to Syantan Basu

Sayantan Basu came under the EC’s scanner after he cited an incident as an example and threatened that four would be killed to avenge killing of one

The Election Commission on Thursday barred the president of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s unit in West Bengal, Dilip Ghosh, from campaigning for the next 24 hours, as he flouted the Model Code of Conduct with his “highly provocative” remarks.

The EC also issued a notice to the general secretary of the BJP unit in the state, Sayantan Basu, for making an “inflammatory” statement.

The commission acted against Dilip Ghosh as he recently warned about many more reruns of the incident in Sitalkuchi, an assembly constituency in the Cooch Behar district of West Bengal, where firing by the personnel of the central paramilitary forces resulted in the death of four people during the fourth phase polling on April 10 last.

Sayantan Basu too came under the EC’s scanner after he cited the incident as an example and threatened that four would be killed to avenge the killing of one.

Four people were killed when the personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) opened fire on a mob at a polling station in Sitalkuchi assembly constituency of the state on April 10. Another man, whom the BJP claimed to be the brother of one of its local leaders, was also killed in a separate incident in the constituency on the same day.

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Basu recently said at a public rally in Baranagar in West Bengal that four had been killed by the security personnel in Sitalkuchi after the brother of the BJP leader had been killed. “There was a dialogue in the film ‘Sholay’, you know, ‘if you kill one, we will kill four of you’. Sitalkuchi witnessed it – ‘if you kill one, we will kill four of you’,” he was quoted saying in the authenticated transcript the EC received from the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal.

The commission observed that the general secretary of the BJP’s unit in West Bengal had not only violated the Model Code of Conduct put in force in the state after the announcement of the schedule of the assembly polls, but also contravened the Representation of People’s Act 1951 and the Indian Penal Code. It gave him 24 hours to explain his position.

Ghosh recently warned that incidents like the one that happened in Sitalkuchi on April 10 might happen in several other places too. “If someone crosses his limits then you have seen what happened in Sitalkuchi. There will be Sitalkuchi in several places,” he said, prompting the EC to serve him a notice on Tuesday.

His reply to the notice failed to convince the EC, which on Thursday barred him from campaigning for the next 24 hours. The poll panel also sternly warned him against making such statements in public during the period when the Model Code of Conduct was in force.

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The EC acted against the BJP leaders in West Bengal a day after the Trinamool Congress accused it of not acting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who, according to the party led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, had allegedly violated the Model Code of Conduct while campaigning in the State.

Banerjee’s party raised the pitch of its criticism against the EC two days after the poll panel barred her from campaigning for 24 hours. The commission acted against her as it was not convinced by her reply to the two notices it had served her on April 7 and 8. The first notice had been issued as she had allegedly flouted the Model Code of Conduct by stating in a public rally that the Muslims of West Bengal should not let anyone to split their votes as the community would be in “severe danger” if the BJP managed to come to power in the state. The second notice had been issued to her for allegedly berating the central paramilitary forces deployed in the state for the polls.