The Delhi CEO Office on Tuesday submitted reports to the EC on “provocative” language used by Thakur, Minister of State for Finance
The Election Commission on Tuesday served notices to Union minister Anurag Thakur and BJP MP Parvesh Verma for their controversial remarks at two election rallies in Delhi, officials said.
Thakur, Union minister of state for finance, was served the notice over urging a crowd at an election rally to say “goli maaro” – or shoot down traitors – in a widely-shared video. Thakur has to respond to the notice by Thursday noon, according to ANI.
Earlier in the day, the Delhi Chief Election Officer had submitted reports to the Election Commission on “provocative” language used by Thakur, Union minister of state for finance and MP Parvesh Verma while campaigning for BJP candidates contesting the Delhi Assembly polls, officials said.
Thakur had egged on the crowd to raise an incendiary slogan after he lashed out at anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protesters while campaigning for BJP candidate Manish Chaudhary in Rithala in North West Delhi on Monday.
In the video, Thakur can be seen prompting “desh ke gaddaron ko…” with the crowd responding “…goli maaro sa***n ko” (”shoot down the traitors who betray the country”). The minister himself was not available for comment but a member of his team pointed out that Thakur had not uttered the second part of the slogan.
On Tuesday, West Delhi’s BJP MP Parvesh Verma said what happened in Kashmir with Kashmiri Pandits could happen in Delhi, warning that lakhs of anti-CAA protesters in Shaheen Bagh could enter homes to rape and kill women.
On Saturday, the EC had imposed a 48-hour campaigning ban on Kapil Mishra, the BJP candidate for Delhi’s Model Town constituency for the February 8 elections after his controversial ‘India vs Pak’ tweets which the polls panel concluded “appeal to communal feelings”
Prasanta Patnaik
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