Abhijit Ganguly, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate from Tamluk in West Bengal, has been restricted from campaigning for 24 hours amidst the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. This action comes after Ganguly made disparaging remarks aimed at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, questioning her integrity with a “what’s your price” jab.
Ganguly, a former judge of the Calcutta High Court, sparked controversy during a public meeting in Midnapore’s Chaitanyapur last week. He insinuated, “Mamata Banerjee, how much are you being sold for? Your rate is Rs 10 lakh? Why? Because you are getting your make-up done by Keya Seth? Is Mamata Banerjee even a woman? I keep wondering sometimes.”
Following the incident, the Trinamool Congress lodged a formal complaint with the Election Commission, denouncing Ganguly’s comments as objectionable and highlighting his apparent misogyny. The party emphasized that such behavior has no place in West Bengal and condemned Ganguly as an “agent of the nari-birodhis.”
In response, the Election Commission ordered a 24-hour ban on Ganguly’s campaigning, effective from 5 pm on Tuesday. Labeling his remarks as an “erosion of the status of women in India,” the EC strongly censured Ganguly for his misconduct and cautioned him to be mindful of his public statements during the Model Code of Conduct.
Earlier rebukes from the polling body had already deemed Ganguly’s statements as “improper, injudicious, beyond dignity in every sense of the term, in bad taste.”