'Children's studies more important than rallies’: SC junks BJP plea against loudspeaker ban

New Delhi, Feb 11: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a petition by the BJP seeking to overturn the 2013 ban enforced by the Mamata Banerjee-led government on the use of loudspeakers in the state.

Children's studies are more important than election campaigning, the Supreme Court ruled.

The prohibition, which applies to residential and institutional areas during the months of February and March, was put in place in purview of the end-of-year school exams.

The West Bengal unit of BJP, which had filed the petition, had attacked the constitutional validity of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government order and had accused the state government of going "patently overboard".

This is the second time that the BJP and the Trinamool Congress government have locked horns in the top court over the issue of campaigning in Bengal. Earlier, the SC refused to overturn the state government's order banning the rath yatra the BJP had proposed to take out in the state over fears that it may lead to communal tensions.