EC censures Congress leader Supriya Shrinate, BJP's Dilip Ghosh for derogatory remarks against women
The Election Commission on Monday censured Congress' Supriya Shrinate and BJP leader Dilip Ghosh for derogatory remarks against the dignity of women.
FollowThe Election Commission issued a censure on Monday directed at both Congress' Supriya Shrinate and BJP leader Dilip Ghosh for their derogatory remarks towards the dignity of women. The Commission deemed their comments to be in violation of the Model Code of Conduct, constituting a low-level personal attack.
Both individuals have been cautioned to exercise greater care in their public statements during the Model Code of Conduct period. Additionally, the Commission announced that their election-related communications will be subject to special and increased monitoring starting from Monday.
Furthermore, copies of the warning notice have been sent to the respective party leaders, urging them to sensitize their members to uphold the guidelines of the Model Code of Conduct and refrain from making derogatory comments in the public sphere.
A contentious comment was shared on social media platforms from Shrinate's accounts targeting Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut, who has been nominated by the BJP as its candidate from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
After facing criticism, Shrinate deleted the controversial remarks from all her social media accounts, asserting that they were not posted by her but rather by someone else who had access to her accounts.
"Many people have access to my Facebook and Instagram accounts. Someone from them made an extremely inappropriate post today. As soon as I came to know, I deleted that post. Everyone who knows me knows I can never make personal and indecent comments towards any woman," she had said.
Shrinate also blamed a parody account bearing her name for the post. "Someone copied it from there and posted it on my Instagram and Facebook accounts. I am trying to know who has done this... I have also reported this parody account to Twitter," she said.
Nevertheless, the post and accompanying photograph had already sparked significant controversy, prompting the National Commission for Women to write a letter to the Election Commission urging action against Shrinate.
NCW Chairperson Rekha Sharma also appealed to Sonia Gandhi to take "strong action" against Supriya Shrinate and another Congress leader, HS Ahir, for their similarly inappropriate remarks.
Kangana Ranaut too responded sharply stating, "We must free our daughters from the shackles of prejudices, we must rise above the curiosity about their body parts and above all we must refrain from using sex workers' challenging lives or circumstances as some kind of abuse or slur... every woman deserves her dignity."
With regards to the controversy surrounding Ghosh, the BJP leader was filmed making derogatory remarks about the family background of Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee.
"Didi goes to Goa and says, 'I am Goa's daughter'... goes to Tripura and says, 'Am Tripura's daughter'. Decide who your father is. It is not good to be just anybody's daughter," he had said.
Subsequently, he issued an apology for his contentious comments directed at the West Bengal Chief Minister. "I have no personal enmity with the Chief Minister. I only questioned the political remarks she has made to mislead people. A lot of people have problems with my language and usage of words... Many have said it is not parliamentary. If that is the case, I regret it," he had said.
During the announcement of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 schedule, the Election Commission cautioned political parties and leaders to conduct themselves appropriately.
Expressing concern over the declining standard of political discourse in the nation, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar cautioned politicians against making caste or religious appeals and advised them to refrain from criticizing "any aspect of private life" of their opponents.
"In this digital world, anything you say has a record and is played over and over. Please avoid creating digital memories of bad words that are coming out of your mouth. Please be civilised during the election," he added.
The upcoming Lok Sabha Elections will take place over seven phases beginning April 19 and ending June 1. The results will be declared on June 4.
