Sexist remarks against TMC candidate: SC asks EC to act

Representational image

The Apex Court on Thursday issued a notice to Election Commission to take appropriate action against opposition party workers for making sexist remarks against Trinamool Congress candidate Mahua Moitra during an election campaign in West Bengal.

A bench which comprised of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjiv Khanna directed the poll panel to act against BJP leaders for passing "sexually coloured remarks" in their election speeches against Trinamool's candidate from the Krishna Nagar Lok Sabha constituency.

The apex court also accepted the fact she raised in her plea that only 48 hours were left for the election campaign to end for the fourth phase and the poll body should act on her complaint as soon as possible.

Earlier, the Election Commission had served a show cause notice to the Bharatiya Janata Party district President of Nadia, Mahadev Sarkar, for derogatory remarks.

Sarkar had made the derogatory comments on Moitra. The Commission saw the video and had taken strong objection to them. It had asked Sarkar to clarify as to why he had made such remarks against a rival candidate.

(with agency inputs)

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also, download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get the latest updates