EC anti-Muslim: Azam

SP rallies behind senior leader

The Samajwadi Party rallied behind Mohammad Azam Khan over his on-going battle with Election Commission after the senior leader refused to apologise, dubbing the constitutional body as anti-Muslim.

Annoyed with the EC for revoking the ban on Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Shah, Azam Khan said the poll panel was anti-Muslim.Chief Minister and SP state president Akhilesh Yadav came to Azam Khan’s rescue at a press conference in lucknow, saying that several forces were working against Muslims, BJP being one of them. He, however, stopped short of criticising the Election Commission.Earlier in the day, Azam Khan had said in Rampur that he would not apologise for an alleged hate speech. He asked why the Election Commission had not lifted the ban on his campaigning like it did for BJP leader Amit Shah.

Khan said the EC action smacked of “undeclared Emergency”. “I have done nothing wrong that warrants an apology. I have not committed a crime,” he said at a press conference in Rampur.Hitting out at the EC for lifting the ban on Shah but not granting him similar relief, Khan said he would move the Supreme Court against the poll panel’s order barring him from campaigning in Uttar Pradesh.

“I have done nothing wrong. Can any commission be above the Supreme Court. The Election Commission has a misunderstanding that its arbitrary powers can’t be challenged in any court,” he said.In lucknow, Akhilesh Yadav said the SP had sent a legal letter to EC persuading it to lift the ban on Azam. “We have full faith on the EC and hope that it will certainly lift the ban on Azam Khan very soon,” he said.SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav has sent a 3-page letter to the EC seeking revocation of the ban on campaigning by Azam Khan after Shah has been allowed to address public meetings and hold road shows in UP. 

In the letter addressed to Principal Secretary, Election Commission, Yadav has enumerated in detail various statements made by different leaders during the campaign on which the EC has taken no notice.Meanwhile, supporters of Azam, wore black badges and took out a protest march in front of Jama Masjid in Rampur raising slogans against the Election Commission.