Election Commission issues notice to CM Yogi over his ‘Babar ki aulad’ remark

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued a notice to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over his controversial remark made on April 19. The poll panel has asked him to reply within 24 hours. 

The notice has been issued because of his ‘Babar ki aulad’ comment made during a speech in Sambhal.

Earlier to this, the poll panel had barred Yogi Adityanath from campaigning for 72 hours. 

Election Commission issues notice to UP CM Yogi Adityanath over his "Babar ki aulad" comment made during a speech in Sambhal on April 19. He has to reply within 24 hours. (file pic) pic.twitter.com/M5ttehdFgw

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 2, 2019

The poll watchdog had served a notice to Adityanath after he, while addressing a rally in Meerut, compared the Lok Sabha elections to a contest between 'Ali', a revered figure in Islam, and Bajrang Bali, the Hindu god Hanuman.

In a separate order, the poll panel had censured Mayawati and "strongly condemned the impugned statements made by her".

It said she would also be barred from holding any public meetings, processions, rallies, road shows and interviews, public utterance in media related to elections for 48 hours.

The Commission said that it was convinced that both leaders had made "highly provocative" speeches which had the tone and tenor to "aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred between different religious communities". It added that the two leaders had also violated provisions of the model code by making appeals to secure votes on religious lines.

The poll panel said that being senior leaders, Adityanath and Mayawati should have desisted from making statements that have the undertone and propensity to polarise the elections, which is not confined to the constituency only where the statement is made, but to the other parts as well, due to fast dissemination of information in the digital age.