Bengal Elections: Mamata Banerjee Banned From Campaigning For 24 Hrs

Mamata Banerjee banned: In the face of the Bengal elections, Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister Of West Bengal has been banned from campaigning for 24 hours.

Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal was banned from "campaigning in any manner" on April 13 till 8 pm.  The reason behind the ban is Mamata Banerjee's alleged comments with communal overtones.

The Election Commission scrutinised an alleged statement by Mamata Banerjee and found it to be in violation contained in Section 123 (3), 3 (A) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and clauses (2), (3), and (4) of Part 1 of 'General Conduct of Model Code of Conduct for the guidance of political parties and candidates'.

This clause states that "there shall be no appeal to caste or communal feelings for securing votes. Mosques, Churches, Temples or other places of worship shall not be used as a forum for election propaganda."

The EC notice read, "Commission hereby condemns such statements potent with serious law and order problems across the state (s) and sternly warns Mamata Banerjee and advises her to desist from using such statements while making public utterances during the period when Model Code of Conduct is in force."

EC bans West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee from campaigning for 24 hrs till 8 pm on Apr 13 for her alleged remarks with communal overtones

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) April 12, 2021

The Election Commission of India had reportedly issued a notice to the TMC leader Mamata Banerjee for seeking votes on the basis of communal grounds. This notice was based on a complaint by a BJP delegation led by Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.

Mamata Banerjee in her reply to the EC ban said that she is going to sit for dharna to protest against the order. She said, "To protest against the undemocratic and unconstitutional decision of the Election Commission of India, I will sit on dharna tomorrow at Gandhi Murti, Kolkata from 12 noon."

The Bengal Elections for the Legislative Assembly commenced on 27 March and will go on till 29 April 2021 in 8 phases. BJP had enlisted many popular female actors across the state including Locket Chatterjee, Tanusree Chakraborty, Anjana Basu, and Payel Sarkar.