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EC bans Bengal BJP leader Rahul Sinha from campaigning for 48 hrs
The poll body also issued a notice to the party’s West Bengal unit chief, Dilip Ghosh, to explain his statement on the death of four men in Sitalkuchi in Cooch Behar district of the poll-bound state. The poll body banned Sinha for his remarks following the firing incident past Saturday
The Election Commission of India (EC) on Tuesday barred BJP leader Rahul Sinha from campaigning for the next 48 hours and issued notice to the party’s West Bengal unit chief, Dilip Ghosh, to explain his statement on the death of four men in Sitalkuchi in Cooch Behar district of the poll-bound state. The poll body banned Sinha for his remarks following the firing incident past Saturday.
Reacting to the incident, Sinha had reportedly said that ”not just four, but eight people should have been killed by Central forces in Sitalkuchi”.
The EC said Sinha’s “highly provocative” remarks could “incite the forces that could have serious law and order implications, thereby adversely affecting the election process”. The ban on Sinha began from Tuesday noon, to continue till 12pm on April 15.
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Ghosh had the notice served to him for reportedly saying, “If someone crosses his limits, then you have seen what happened in Sitalkuchi...be careful...this will happen in several places,” on the Sitalkuchi incident. Four men were killed when the Central forces deputed at a polling booth in Sitalkuchi opened fired after allegedly being attacked by a mob on April 10, during the fourth phase of polling.
Sinha’s ban comes close on the heels of a similar, but a 24-hour, ban on West Bengal chief minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee over her remarks on the Central forces on election duty a day ago. The TMC had then urged the poll body for strict action against Sinha, state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh, and Sayantan Basu as well.
The EC had come down heavily on Banerjee whose remarks it found “highly insinuating and provocative, laden with the serious potential of the breakdown of law and order”.
