But two BJP leaders can still campaign in Delhi polls
Citing provocative languages used by Union Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur and Delhi BJP MP Pravesh Sahib Singh Verma in campaign rallies, the Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday ordered the BJP to drop both of them from the list of star campaigners for the Assembly elections in Delhi.
Thakur and Verma can still canvass for the BJP but they will have to bear the campaign expenditures.
“The EC has ordered the removal of Thakur and Verma from the list of star campaigners of the BJP for the general elections to the Legislative Assembly of the NCT of Delhi with immediate effect and until further orders,” an EC note stated. The final order will be announced by the poll panel after examining their replies.
The comments by Thakur and Verma are part of a string of controversial comments and communally divisive rhetoric used in the Delhi election campaign.
The AAP leaders have accused that the BJP of trying to polarise the voters of a particular community because it cannot effectively counter ‘free electricity, free water, free travelling and corruption free governance of Arvind Kejriwal” in the Assembly polls.
When asked, a senior functionary of the poll panel said “they will not get any financial concessions that star campaigners get. It is just a financial penalty. The cost of a star campaigner’s canvassing is not added into the expenditure limit set for each candidate; rather the expenses are considered under the net expenditure done on campaigning by a political party. While political parties have no limit on the amount they can spend for electioneering, candidates can spend a maximum of Rs 28 lakh for campaigning in Delhi Assembly polls,” he said.
During an election rally in Delhi’s Rithala, Thakur criticised the section of people opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act, and egged on the crowd to raise an incendiary slogan - “desh ke gaddaron ko....” (traitors should be shot down) - equating anti-CAA protesters with anti-national elements.
Likewise, west Delhi MP Verma also came under the EC’s scanner after he said the Kashmiri Pandit exodus from Kashmir could happen in Delhi, warning that lakhs of anti-CAA protesters in Shaheen Bagh could enter people’s homes to “kill and rape women”. Verma had stoked a storm by claiming at Bagpat in UP that “Muslims had never cast their vote for the BJP as they perceive it as a ‘patriotic’ party” and that “all terrorists are Muslims”.
The poll panel had taken cognisance of allegations of poll code violation against Thakur and Verma and issued the duo a show-cause notice, saying prima facie the remarks had the “potential of disturbing communal harmony”. The EC has also issued show cause notice to Verma for his remarks and sought reply by January 30 on Wednesday.
In the show-cause notice, the EC referred to section 123 of the Representation of the People Act, dealing with attempts to promote enmity or hatred between different classes of citizens on the grounds of religion, race, caste, community or language. It said the ruling BJP leader also made “certain other objectionable statements” at the meeting.