EC Bars Azam Khan From Campaigning for 72 Hrs, Maneka for 48 Hrs

Maneka Gandhi and Azam Khan. 

(Photo: PTI/Altered by The Quint)

The Election Commission on Monday, 15 April, continued with its actions against political leaders, as it barred Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan from election campaigning for 72 hours, and Union Minister Maneka Gandhi for 48 hours, for violation of the Model Code of Conduct during their respective campaigns.

The poll body’s action came hours after it similarly barred UP CM Yogi Adityanath from campaigning for 72 hours and Mayawati for 48 hours.

The action against Azam Khan came for his comments against BJP’s Jaya Prada. Without taking names, Khan on Sunday had said at an election rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur district that it took “you 17 years to understand her reality” but, “I could recognise it in 17 days that she wears a khaki underwear”.

The BJP has pitted actor-turned-politician Jaya Prada against Khan from the Rampur Lok Sabha seat.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Maneka Gandhi was barred from campaigning for violating the Model Code of Conduct during her election campaign held in Sultanpur, where she made a communal remark.

Gandhi, while campaigning in Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur on 11 April, was recorded on camera ‘pressurising’ members of the Muslim community to vote for her or else ‘she may not work towards fulfilling their needs when she wins’.

The ban on both Azam Khan and Maneka Gandhi will be effective from 10 am on Tuesday, 16 April.