The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a plea to delay the release of the film PM Narendra Modi, the biopic on Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. The hearing will take place on 8 April. The new release date of the film is 11 April, the day when the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections begin.
The petition was filed by Satish Gaikwad, the national president of the Republican Party of India (RPI), in the Bombay high court. His petition alleged that the release of the film violates the model code of conduct put in place by the Election Commission (EC).
The HC dismissed the petition on 1 April after the EC, in its reply to the HC, stated that they have no objection to the film. Following this, Gaikwad approached the SC.
Gaikwad was represented by advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who is the Member of Parliament (MP) from Congress. He pressed the matter to be heard urgently by the SC. “Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi mentioned the matter for urgent hearing of the plea before a bench headed by Justice SA Bobde who posted the case for Monday, 8 April,” said the news agency ANI on their official Twitter page.
Directed by Omung Kumar B and starring Vivek Anand Oberoi in the lead, PM Narendra Modi was earlier supposed to release on 12 April. But the film was delayed yesterday as it ran into problems with the Central Board of Film Certification.