Complaints against Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee over poll code violations

The West Bengal chief electoral office Monday said it has received complaints against Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Bengali superstar Dev for violating the model code of conduct.

The complaints have been sent to the central election commission for scrutiny.

"We have forwarded the reports in all three cases today (Monday) to the central EC. They will take necessary action," an official told reporters here.

The Trinamool Congress lodged a complaint with the Election Commission against the alleged presence of school students at a Congress party workers' meeting in Alipurduar in Jalpaiguri district March 25.

The opposition parties also complained to the commission against Banerjee for her alleged provocative speeches against the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India-Marxist at a rally in Nadia district.

In her speech, Banerjee had reportedly trained her guns on the opposition parties for allegedly colluding in encouraging communalism in the state.

Reigning Bengali film star Dev, a Trinamool candidate from Ghatal constituency, was recently embroiled in a controversy over his comments during a newspaper interview that led to outrage from the opposition and the people.

After likening the Lok Sabha poll frenzy to "being raped", the movie star apologised for his comments.

The commission said magician P.C. Sorcar Junior has replied to a show cause notice issued Sunday.

Sorcar, who is contesting the Lok Sabha polls on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket from West Bengal's Barasat, was slapped with the notice for making derogatory comments against Banerjee and his Trinamool Congress rival Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who is a gynaecologist, calling her insane.

"We are scrutinising the reply," the officer said.