Supreme Court dismisses plea on banning road shows, bike rallies before elections

PTI file photo used for representational purpose only.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea seeking a direction from the court to the Election Commission to ban roadshows and bike rallies during polls.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi dismissed last year`s plea filed by former Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) Vikram Singh and environmentalist Shaivika Agrawal.

The plea stated that holding such events violated the Commission`s norms and was detrimental to the environment. It said that road shows and bike rallies held during election period causes air and noise pollution and also result in traffic jams which cause inconvenience to the general public.

The top court`s ruling comes ahead of the 17th Lok Sabha elections, which is beginning from April 11 and will be held in seven phases. 

Counting of votes will take place on May 23.