Accusing the Election Commission of being biased, Samajwadi Party general secretary and Uttar Pradesh’s Cabinet minister Mohammad Azam Khan said the poll panel supported communal forces during the 2014 parliamentary election and it should apologise to the nation for its “misdeeds”.
“The EC had first served notice to Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Shah for his derogatory statement that Azamgarh was nursery of terrorists and then it suddenly withdrew the notice. This proves its bias towards communal forces,” the minister said and demanded a public apology from the EC.He said if the EC was not biased, it should take action against Shah under Section 317 of the Indian Penal Code.
Khan, who was banned by the EC for his hate speech, said that it was unfortunate that the poll panel said that Shah had not said anything wrong. He said action should be taken against the EC for this.“The EC’s work is to conduct free and fair election, but this time it gave oxygen to a particular party. The EC should speak the truth and do its duty,” Khan told reporters in Rampur.
Khan pointed out that the Allahabad High Court had earlier passed stricture on a question asked in the PCS examination conducted by UP Public Service Commission — which place in UP has roots of terrorism. Its four options were Azamgarh, Pithoragarh, Aligarh and Pratapgarh and the correct answer was Azamgarh.
"The High Court has already directed the UP Government to seek a public apology for the question, which was removed from the question paper. “But how can the BJP leader raise such issueIJ” he asked.