KOLKATA: Union Minister Babul Supriyo on Wednesday refuted allegations of putting out a campaign song without prior permission of the Election Commission, insisting that the video which went viral was actually a clip of him recording the number.
The poll body had on Tuesday issued a show cause notice to Supriyo for the campaign song, composed and sung by him.
"It is not that I have released any campaign song. The fact is when I was recording this song in a studio in Mumbai, media persons came and shot a video of it. It was a clip of that video that was shown on various news channels and went viral on social media. I did not release or share anything," the Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises said at a press conference here.
The music video was posted on social media and aired on some local television news channels without certification from the Election Commission (EC), Additional Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal, Sanjay Basu, said on Tuesday.
"Yesterday, I was served the show cause notice and was given 48 hours time to reply to it. In my reply, I have given every detail and also the lyrics of my song. In the song, I have not named anybody, so how come the question of defaming comes up?" the singer-turned-politician, who is an MP from Asansol, said.
According to EC guidelines, content of all audio-visual clippings, audio messages and write-ups have to be sent to the poll panel for pre-verification and clearance by its Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC).
These contents can be used only after a certificate is issued by the MCMC. Senior state BJP leader Jaiprakash Majumdar alleged that a section of officials at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal were acting in a partial way.
"Today, during a meeting with the Election Commission, we told the CEO that certain officials at his office, who were posted by the state government just ahead of polls, were not acting in an impartial way," Majumdar said.