India News | BJP Urges EC to Bar Sidhu from Campaigning
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The BJP on Monday urged the Election Commission to ban Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu from campaigning in the ongoing assembly polls and register a criminal case against him and his party, alleging that he was promoting hatred and division in the society with his comments.
New Delhi, Feb 14 (PTI) The BJP on Monday urged the Election Commission to ban Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu from campaigning in the ongoing assembly polls and register a criminal case against him and his party, alleging that he was promoting hatred and division in the society with his comments.
A BJP delegation, including Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, met the EC with a memorandum and claimed that Sidhu had insulted Brahmins with a "derogatory" reference with an aim to divide Punjabis.
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Sidhu had also recently made an appeal to Muslims in the state that their votes should not be divided, the BJP noted.
Naqvi said the Congress leader's comments are in violation of the Model Code of Conduct and the Indian Penal Code as well.
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He also accused opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh of trying to hinder Muslim women from voting and asked the EC to look into it.
The BJP memorandum urged the EC to also censure and warn the Indian National Congress for promoting hatred and division by "allowing and acquiescing in the sinister designs" of Sidhu.
It said, "In a state that has suffered due to secessionist elements and militancy in no distant past and which is just about emerging from ill-effects thereof, a crass derogation of the one particular caste amongst Hindus is an ugly attempt to divide the people of the state of Punjab, which being a border state has always been a target of sinister incursions from across the border. Such trends, however preliminary, must not be ignored."
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)