Delhi Election 2020: Election Commission bans Parvesh, Thakur from campaigning

The Election Commission Thursday barred Minister of State (Finance) Anurag Thakur from campaigning in the Delhi Assembly elections for three days and BJP’s West Delhi MP Parvesh Sahib Singh for four days for their controversial remarks.

The ban came into force from 5 pm on Thursday. The EC said the decision was taken as it was not satisfied with their respective replies to the showcause notices. On Tuesday, Singh, in an interview to ANI, had said that if the anti-CAA and NRC protests at Shaheen Bagh were allowed to continue, Delhi would face a “Kashmir-like situation”, wherein protesters will “enter homes and rape sisters and daughters”.

During an election rally earlier this week, Thakur, addressing an election rally Monday, repeatedly chanted “Desh ke gaddaron ko” and had people responding with “goli maaro saalon ko”. The EC orders said Thakur and Verma would continue to be off the list of of BJP’s star campaigners for the Delhi polls.

In his reply to the showcause notice, Thakur told the EC that he had only said “desh ke gaddaron ko” (traitors of the country) and it was the crowd which responded. He maintained he had no intention to create or promote enmity between people.

Thakur had sought a personal appearance before the Commission, a plea which was rejected. The EC said the BJP leader made an undesirable and objectionable statement, which had the tone and tenor to aggravate existing differences. It barred Thakur from holding public rallies, meetings, giving interviews, making utterances in print, electronic and social media for 72 hours (three days) beginning 5 pm on Thursday.

Singh has been barred from campaigning for 96 hours (four days) for his interview in which he made remarks on Shaheen Bagh, and a statement on removing mosques at an election meeting in Vikaspuri on January 28.

In his reply, Singh said his remarks on Shaheen Bagh protesters were in response to a question in the interview and were misrepresented by the media. He also said his statement on removal of mosques was in the context of removing illegal encroachments from government land.

Singh too had sought a personal hearing before the poll panel, but it was rejected. On January 25, BJP candidate from Model Town Kapil Mishra was barred from campaigning for 48 hours for inflammatory tweets.

Source: Financial Express