Lok Sabha elections: Calcutta HC declines to lift stay on 'misleading' ads by BJP against TMC

Lok Sabha elections: Calcutta HC declines to lift stay on 'misleading' ads by BJP against TMC

The Court clarified that during elections the print media shall refrain from publishing any unverified information against any candidate or political party

The Calcutta High Court on May 22 declined to life stay on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from publishing advertisements against the Trinamool Congress (TMC), which violated the model code of conduct.

The stay comes following the court's earlier order of restraining the party from publishing advertisements until June 4, the day the Lok Sabha election process ends.

The Court opined that the ideal course of action for the BJP is to go back to the single-judge and seek a recall or a review of the order under challenge, according to Bar & Bench report.

Catch all LIVE updates on Lok Sabha Elections here

Earlier, a single bench of Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya had restrained the BJP from publishing advertisements in any form of the media which is violative of the MCC till June 4 or until further notice.

The court had observed that a perusal of the newspaper advertisements annexed by petitioner TMC evince that those are in violation of the MCC.

It also criticised the Election Commission (EC) for not addressing the complaints promptly, especially with most phases of the Lok Sabha elections already completed.

TMC had approached the Election Commission against the advertisements.While issuing the notices, the poll watchdog reminded the BJP leader about the provisions of the model code of conduct, which deals with criticism based on unverified allegations, and its recent advisory to parties that states unverified and misleading advertisements should not be published in the media.