News18 Daybreak | EC Bars Maneka Gandhi, Yogi Adityanath, Mayawati and Azam Khan from Campaigning and Other Stories You Need to Watch Out For

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EC bars Maneka Gandhi, Yogi Adityanath, Mayawati and Azam Khan from campaigning

In a scathing move, the Election Commission on Monday issued orders barring four top political leaders, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi, UP CM Yogi Adityanath, Samajwadi Party’s Azam Khan and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati from campaigning for a stipulated period of time.

The poll body took the decision over remarks made by the leaders during various rallies ahead of the second phase of polling in the northern state.

Decisive action: While Khan was penalised for his sexist jibe against BJP candidate Jaya Prada, Gandhi’s ban came after she stirred controversy for asking Muslims in Sultanpur to vote for her if they wanted jobs.

Earlier on Monday morning, the poll body had barred UP CM Yogi Adityanath from campaigning for 72 hours and Mayawati for 48 hours. The EC in its order said it was convinced that both the leaders “made highly provocative speech which has the tone and tenor to aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred between different religious communities”.

The poll watchdog pulled up Adityanath over his comment: “Have faith in Ali, we have faith in Bajrangbali”. Meanwhile, the BSP chief was issued a notice for her speech in Deoband, in which she had appealed to the Muslim community to not vote for the Congress.

He said she said: The BSP supremo Mayawati in a press conference launched a scathing attack on the EC over the ban and criticized the poll body for its “anti-Dalit mentality”.

"The decision by the Election Commission to impose a 48 hour-ban on me was taken under some kind of pressure….I have been denied the fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression. This day will be known as a black day in the history of EC," Mayawati said.

Mayawati also remarked that the EC has been unable to do anything against “the real person who violated the Model Code of Conduct – PM Modi”.

“PM Modi is using Army for votes while Amit Shah is continuously spreading hate for a certain community, but the EC has no courage to take any kind of action against them,” she said.

Not a first: This isn’t the first time that the EC has enforced such a stringent action against politicians over “inflammatory” remarks. Prime Minister Modi himself, during a recent campaign, reminded the electorate about the time when Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray faced flak from the Election Commission.

In the year 1999, the ECI had debarred Bal Thackeray from contesting election as well as from the right of voting for six years. Such cases of bans were also issued by the ECI in 2014 against Amit Shah, Baba Ramdev, and Azam Khan during the Lok Sabha polls.

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