The Supreme Court has refused to entertain the BJP’s plea against a Calcutta High Court order restraining it from publishing certain advertisements which the Trinamool Congress had said were derogatory and violated the Model Code of Conduct, LiveLaw reported.
A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and KV Viswanathan refused to interfere with the order. “We have seen the advertisements. Prima facie, the advertisements are disparaging. You can say you are the best..but....we don’t want to lend our hands to promote further acrimony,” Justice Viswanathan said, according to LiveLaw, after the BJP’s counsel said the ads were based on facts.
The BJP’s lawyer then reportedly chose to withdraw the petition, seeking liberty to file a reply before the high court single bench which passed the interim order.
Last week, the petition was mentioned before a vacation bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal for an urgent hearing. The BJP’s counsel had submitted that an “ex-parte” order was passed against the party, which is to remain in force till June 4.
The high court had earlier said the media must not publish unverified information against any political party or candidate during elections as contemplated in the Press Council of India’s guidelines.
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