Kolkata: Dissatisfied by his reply to the show-cause notice, the Election Commission on Thursday ordered a police case against Trinamool Congress candidate Abdur Rezzak Mollah over his "objectionable" remarks about BJP's actress-turned-poll nominee Roopa Ganguly.


COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

"Mollah replied to the show-cause notice but it was not satisfactory. The returning officer did not find his reply to be satisfactory. So a first information report has been lodged against him under section 509 of the Indian Penal Code," said state chief electoral officer Sunil Kumar Gupta said. 


The section deals with outraging the "modesty of woman" and carries a maximum punishment of one year simple imprisonment. 


The EC on Wednesday had issued a show-cause notice to Mollah, contesting the West Bengal assembly polls from Bhangar in South 24 Parganas, after the Bharatiya Janata Party moved it, seeking action against Mollah for his remarks which had cast aspersions on the character of Ganguly, famous for portraying Draupadi in the TV series Mahabharata.


Known for making controversial remarks, Mollah, a former state minister, was expelled from the Communist Party of India-Marxist in 2014 for "anti-party activities".


Mollah had been censured and show-caused earlier by the poll panel for some of his utterances.