The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday barred BJP leaders Union Minister of State Anurag Thakur and West Delhi MP Parvesh Sahib Singh from campaigning for the Delhi Assembly elections for three and four days respectively, finding statements made by them were in violation of the Model Code of Conduct.
Out of the six remaining days of campaigning left before the elections on February 8, Mr. Thakur was barred from any public meetings, rallies, processions, interviews and public utterances for 72 hours starting from 5 p.m. on Thursday. Similarly, Mr. Singh was barred from campaigning for 96 hours. Campaigning ends at 5 p.m. on February 6.
Both had been given time till noon on Thursday to respond to notices issued to them earlier this week. According to the orders barring them from campaigning, the ECI said it did not feel the need to give them a hearing in person, having received their written replies.
In Mr. Thakur’s case, he had participated in a chant of “desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaro saalo ko” [‘shoot the traitors of the country’] during a public meeting in the Rithala Assembly constituency on Monday. He told the ECI that he had only said “desh ke gaddaron ko”, which meant “traitors of the country” and it was the crowd that had responded by asking for them to be shot. Mr. Thakur said his statement “had neither intention to create or promote enmity between different religions, races, castes or communities”, the ECI order said.
In Mr. Singh’s case, the ECI order said he made objectionable statements during a public meeting in Vikaspuri on Tuesday as well as during an interview to news agency ANI earlier. In the interview, Mr. Singh was asked about the protests against the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act in Shaheen Bagh, when he said the people there would “enter your homes and rape hour sisters and daughters”.
In his response to the ECI notice, he said the statements regarding the protesters was in reply to a question and “intended to highlight certain incidents that disturbed peace in several States and his statements were misrepresented in the media”, the order said. On his statement regarding mosques in Vikaspuri, he said it was in the context of “removing illegal encroachment on govt land”. Mr. Singh denied that he had violated the MCC.
The ECI, however, found both leaders to be in violation of the MCC and Representation of the People Act, 1951.
The ECI found that the two leaders had “made undesirable and objectionable statement which has the tone and tenor to aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred between different religious communities, and this violated the provisions of Model Code of Conduct and Representation of the People Act, 1951.”
Earlier, the ECI had ordered the police to file a case against BJP candidate for Model Town Kapil Mishra for a communal tweet.
