[Lok Sabha Elections] Calcutta High Court Dismisses BJP's Appeal Against Order Restraining It From Running Allegedly Derogatory Ads Against TMC
The Calcutta High Court has dismissed an appeal by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against an order by a single judge which restrained it from printing certain allegedly derogatory advertisements against the Trinamool Congress (TMC) which violated the model code of conduct during the Lok Sabha Elections, 2024.A division bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya...
The Calcutta High Court has dismissed an appeal by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against an order by a single judge which restrained it from printing certain allegedly derogatory advertisements against the Trinamool Congress (TMC) which violated the model code of conduct during the Lok Sabha Elections, 2024.
A division bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya held:
We are not inclined to entertain this appeal. The grievance is that they were not served or heard. It is submitted that the single bench's refer must be deleted and the appellant be allowed to present their submissions. can't test the correctness of the order based on submissions that were never placed before the single bench who did not get to hear the appellant. The appellant is not remediless and they can seek for recall or review.
Senior Counsel for the appellant stated that the court had passed the imoygned order in the absence of the appellant, when notice had not been served upon them either. It was stated that the order was passed on a day when elections were being conducted in the State and the Bar had requested the Bench to not pass adverse orders.
It was further stated that the very same grievance was raised before the Election Commission, which was the constitutional authority to deal with complaints such as this, and in their presence, the Court could not intervene, especially when a show cause notice had already been issued.
Counsel argued that under Article 329 of the Constitution, the authority of the ECI in such cases was expansive and would also encompass complaints such as the present one- a fact which was known to the petitioner's who had initially approached the ECI itself.
Counsel stated that he was not arguing on the merits of the order, but sought to challenge it on the grounds that the single bench could not have passed such an order without hearing one side.
Upon hearing these statements, the Court expressed concern over the fashion in which the ads in question were published:
You (BJP) are a national party. There should be an internal mechanism either at centre or state level which will approve what propaganda can be printed. there should be some Lakshman Rekha sir. National parties filing this…we are not complimenting them (TMC)…but imagine the impact on normal people. Normally any ad will contain a companies logo and their colour scheme. This is an ad by a party which does not have their colour scheme or logo. If you people keep fighting amongst yourselves, the victim is the person who is going to elect his representative…they get misinformed.
Accordingly, the appeal was dismissed upon holding that the Court could not go into contentions in appeal which the single bench did not have the occasion to hear, and that the impugned order was merely an interim order.
The Bench orally remarked, "certain utterances by people at the helm of affairs have a great impact on society. Forget about urban masses, it impacts the rural population."
Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Cal) 128
Case: Bharatiya Janata Party v All India Trinamool Congress & Ors
Case No: MAT/1024/2024