EC cracks down on minister & BJP MP
72-hr ban on Thakur, 96-hr ban on Parvesh for hate speech
Union minister of state for finance Anurag Thakur and BJP’s West Delhi MP Parvesh Verma were banned by the Election Commission from campaigning in the Delhi Assembly polls for 72 hours and 96 hours respectively for making controversial speeches. The ban came into force from 5 pm on Thursday.
The EC has also decided to convene a special meeting on Friday to discuss all important aspects for the conduct of free and fair elections. It has also granted permission to the Union home ministry to extend by one month the services of Delhi police commissioner Amulya Patnaik, who was due to retire on Friday.
The EC said the BJP leaders had made undesirable existing differences. The EC orders barred Mr Thakur and Mr Verma from holding any public meetings, processions, rallies, roadshows and interviews, public utterances in the media (electronic, print, social media) in connection with the ongoing
■ Continued from Page 1 Delhi polls. Both BJP leaders will also remain off their party’s “star campaigners” list. At a recent public meeting in Rithala, Mr Thakur had shouted “desh ke gaddaron ko”, to which the crowd responded “goli maaro saalo ko (sic)” (shoot down the traitors). Mr Verma had claimed that those who mounted over a month-long sit-in protest at Shaheen Bagh against the controversial citizenship law “will enter your houses, rape your sisters and daughters”.
In his defence to the showcause notice, Mr Thakur told the EC he had only said “desh ke gaddaron ko” (traitors to the country), and it was the crowd which responded. The minister maintained he had no intention to create or promote enmity between people. He sought a personal appearance before the commission, which was rejected.
Reacting to the ban, Mr Verma said he respected the Election Commission decision. “I respect the Election Commission’s decision to ban me from campaigning for the Delhi elections for 96 hours. I assure you I will not campaign for 96 hours. However, afterwards I will resume campaigning with full strength,” he said in a video message posted on his Facebook page.