Supreme Court Declines BJP’s Plea on Controversial Ads During Lok Sabha Polls

The Supreme Court has dismissed the BJP's plea challenging a Calcutta High Court decision that restrained the party from issuing advertisements allegedly violating the model code during Lok Sabha elections. The vacation bench deemed the advertisement as disparaging. The matter was withdrawn following the court's disinclination to entertain the issue.

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea filed by the BJP challenging a Calcutta High Court order that had refused to interfere with a single-judge verdict restraining the party from issuing advertisements that are allegedly violative of the model code during the Lok Sabha polls.

A vacation bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and K V Viswanathan refused to interfere with the high court order.

''Prima facie, the advertisement is disparaging,'' the bench said.

Senior advocate P S Patwalia, appearing for the BJP, sought permission to withdraw the matter after the bench expressed disinclination to entertain the matter.

The matter was dismissed as withdrawn.

On May 22, a division bench of the high court had said it was not inclined to entertain the appeal against the interim order passed by the single-judge bench.

The single-judge bench on May 20 had restrained the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from publishing advertisements that violated the MCC until June 4, the day the Lok Sabha poll results are scheduled to be declared.

The court had also restrained the saffron party from publishing the advertisements mentioned by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal, in its petition claiming unverified allegations against it and its workers.