EC bans BJP theme song composed and sung by Babul Supriyo, bars from playing it anywhere

The Election Commission of India on Saturday said the Bhartiya Janata Party’s (BJP) theme song composed and sung by the Union Minister Babul Supriyo cannot be played anywhere.

"Firstly, the theme song was not pre-certified for which we had informed the Commission. Also, the song is being played in different places so there are instructions for stopping it," Additional Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Basu told reporters.

The song has been written by Amit Chakraborty that has BJP's election symbol 'Lotus' in West Bengal and says ‘no to Trinamool Congress.’ BJP leader Babul Supriyo tweeted the song captioning it with the hashtag #EiTrinamoolArNa and used the words in his song. "Ei Trinamool ar na" which means "this Trinamool no more".

However, the Bhartiya Janata Party had applied for the song’s certification has been conveyed the EC's decision, reports news agency. The Election commission official said that not seeking prior permission from the media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) is a violation of the model code of conduct.

“The MCMC has not given permission yet. The party has not submitted the modified version," Additional Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Basu had said. "We have discussed all the complaints against him (Supriyo) at the state level and have forwarded our observations to the ECI."

Notably, last month the poll body had issued a show cause notice to Babul Priyo for releasing the song without prior notice from the commission. The 7 polling for the Lok Sabha elections is to be from April 11 to May 19. The counting of votes will is scheduled on May 23rd.