Arrested BJP activist Priyanka Sharma's lawyer claimed she had no choice but to move the Supreme Court
BJP Yuva Morcha leader Priyanka Sharma, who was arrested on Friday for allegedly sharing a morphed photo of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, has today moved the Supreme Court against her arrest.
A vacation bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and Sanjiv Khanna has agreed to hear the matter tomorrow.
Ms Sharma's lawyer - Senior Advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul - told the court that his 26-year-old client had no choice but to approach the Supreme Court because of a complete strike in the state. She is seeking bail.
Priyanka Sharma is accused of sharing a photo in which Mamata Banerjee's face has been photo-shopped on the form of Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra; in the original picture, the actor, who voted from the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha constituency in this election, was photographed at the MET Gala event in New York City.
Earlier, the BJP youth wing activist's mother claimed her daughter's arrest was politically motivated.
"My daughter was arrested because she worked for the BJP. This is all part of a big plot. This is the first time she is far away from us. Had she been a TMC (Trinamool) worker nothing bad would have happened to her, this is all done by TMC," she was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Ms Banerjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have exchanged sharp words this election as they fight to control the state's 42 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP's challenge has become stronger since former Trinamool leader Mukul Roy joined the party.
The BJP has accused the state government of corruption, raising issues like the Chief Minister selling her paintings to chit funds for crores of rupees and investigations into Ponzi schemes.
In response, Ms Banerjee hit out at the Prime Minister for lowering the level of political discourse with comments like "speed breaker didi". She also alleged on Sunday, during voting in eight constituencies in the state, that RSS workers impersonated central forces to intimidate voters.
9 West Bengal seats will vote in the seventh and final phase of the election on May 19. Overall results will be declared on May 23.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)