EC show-cause notices to Dilip Ghosh, Supriya Shrinate for offensive remarks against women

New Delhi: The Election Commission on Wednesday issued notices to Supriya Shrinate of the Congress and Dilip Ghosh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for flouting the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) with derogatory and offensive remarks against political opponents ahead of Lok Sabha elections.

Shrinate, who leads the social media unit of the All-India Congress Committee, has been served a notice for posting a picture of the film actor Kangana Ranaut, whom the BJP fielded as its candidate at Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, on X along with a remark that the EC found to be “undignified and in bad taste”. The commission issued the notice to Ghosh, a Lok Sabha MP and a candidate of the BJP in the Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency in West Bengal for his “offensive and insulting” comment about the West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee.

The commission issued notices to Shrinate and Ghosh, acting on the complaints lodged by the BJP and the Trinamool Congress respectively. They were asked to respond to the notices by 5 p.m. on Friday.

Shrinate already clarified that one of the many people having accesses to her accounts on social media platforms posted the “disgusting and objectional picture” and the comment. “As soon as I came to know about this, I removed that post. Anyone who knows me knows very well that I don’t make personal remarks about any woman,” she later wrote on X. The BJP leaders, however, continued to criticise her for her posts on Ranaut.

The EC in its notice on Wednesday noted that Shrinate had posted on X and Instagram a picture of Ranaut along with a comment – Kya bhav chal raha hai Mandi mein, koi batayega? (What is the rate in Mandi? Can anyone tell us?”)

| Ghosh made the offensive comment about the father of West Bengal's chief minister and drew flak from the Trinamool Congress. “When Didi goes to Goa, she becomes Goa's daughter, in Tripura, she says I am Tripura's daughter, decide who is your father, this is not right”, he made the comment recently referring to Banerjee.

J P Nadda, the BJP president, sought a clarification from him. He apologised for his comment on Wednesday, hours before the EC issued the notice to him.

The commission reminded the two leaders of the provision of the MCC, which required that criticism of other political parties, if and when made, shall be confined to their policies and programme, past record, and work.

"Parties and candidates shall refrain from criticism of all aspects of private life, not connected with the public activities of the leaders or workers of other parties. Criticism of other parties or their workers based on unverified allegations or distortion shall be avoided."

The commission's advisory issued to the political parties regarding plummeting levels of political discourse notes that no aspect of the private life, not connected with the public activities, of the leaders or workers of other parties is to be criticised.