Abhijit Gangopadhyay joined the BJP in March this year
Delhi/Kolkata:
Supreme Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay has been banned from campaigning for 24 hours over sexist comments about West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The Election Commission of India (EC) said candidates contesting the ongoing Lok Sabha polls should refrain from making statements that amount to an attack on someone's personal life.
The BJP, meanwhile, claimed it was a “fake video”. “We do not agree with the existence of such videos. This is a ploy by the TMC to release fake videos and defame the BJP. But that will not make any difference in the elections,” BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya was quoted as saying. This is what the Press Trust news agency from India says.
The former judge's alleged comment – videos of which have been circulating online – has provided enormous ammunition to Trinamool, which has branded the BJP as 'anti-women' since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Didi-O-Didi' taunt in 2021.
The video of Mr Gangopadhyay, who is contesting from Tamluk, comes amid the Sandeshkhali row and subsequent battle for the support of the state's women voters.
Mr Gangopadhyay – who made headlines with his statements and has had run-ins with lawyers, judges and senior leaders of the Bengal Trinamool Congress – quit the Calcutta High Court and joined the BJP in March this year.