New Delhi: The Election Commission has censured BJP leader Dilip Ghosh and Congress leader Supriya Shrinate for derogatory remarks against the dignity of women and said that the Commission views the electoral process as an enhancer of the status of women and will not allow any erosion of their status.
The Commission, in its order on Monday, after the receipt of their replies to notices issued to them over Model Code of Conduct (MCC) violations, said that they are convinced that the two leaders made a low-level personal attack and thus violated the provisions of MCC.
They have been warned to remain careful with public utterances during the Model Code of Conduct period. Their election-related communications will be specially and additionally monitored by the Commission from this time on.
A copy of the warning notice is also sent to party chiefs to sensitise their functionaries to be careful while communicating in the public domain and refrain from any such derogatory comments and violations of MCC guidelines.
The Commission has carefully gone through the contents and averments made in the replies of Supriya Shrinate and Dilip Ghosh and has again gone through the remarks made by them.
It may be recalled that the Election Commission issued a show cause notice to Supriya Shrinate, for her derogatory remarks against Bollywood actress and BJP's candidate Kangana Ranaut. Shrinate had later claimed that her social media profiles had been tampered with and she would never make such remarks about any woman.
The Election Commission also send notice to Dilip Ghosh, MP from West Bengal for his objectionable and disrespectful comment against West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee. Ghosh had later claimed that he had made the comments in a political context.
The Commission stressed that it "considers the whole process of conduct elections as a major enhancer of status of women in India and is committed not to allow any erosion of this status in any manner during the election period under its own aegis."