New Delhi: The Election Commission of India on Thursday banned Bharatiya Janata Party West Bengal president Dilip Ghosh from campaigning for 24 hours for violating the Model Code of Conduct.
As per the official release, the ban on Ghosh will be from 1900 hrs of Thursday till 1900 hrs of Friday, April 16.
Ghosh,while addressing a public rally in Barangar, North 24 Parganas of Bengal on Sunday, said 'Cooch Behar-like killings may happen if naughty boys like the ones who received bullets in Sitalkuchi" try to take the law into their hands.'
Following the BJP chief remarks, Trinamool Congress senior leader Derek O'Brien complained to the ECI alleging that Ghosh delivered an"inflammatory statement which is an open threat to the Bengal and its people".
The ECI, subsequently issued a show-cause notice to Ghosh and asked him to reply by Wednesday morning.
In his reply, Ghosh mentioned that 'it was not his intension to make any statement which would be in the contravention of the Model of Conduct and Representation of People Act/Indian Penal Code.'
The BJP Bengal president said he regretted his statement and will be careful in future.
However, unsatisfied with the reply, the ECI found him guilty of violating the MCC and making 'highly regretful and inciteful remarks which would adversely impact law & order, thereby adversely affecting the election process.'
'The commission hereby sternly warns Shri Dilip Ghosh and advises him to desist from using such statements while making public utterances during the period when Model Code of Conduct is in force,' the ECI said.
Five people, including a first-time voter, were killed in two separate incidents of violence on polling day in Sitalkuchi in West Bengal. On Friday, 45 Assembly constituencies in six districts of Bengal will vote in the fifth phase of the ongoing eight-phase Assembly elections.
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