EC sends notice to Maya, Yogi, Maneka

Lucknow, April 12

The EC has issued notices to UP CM Yogi Adityanath, BSP chief Mayawati and Union Minister Maneka Gandhi.

While Adityanath handed over his reply to the chief electoral officer in Lucknow, Mayawati sent her reply to the EC here, sources said.

The notice to Mayawati was regarding her speech at Deoband on April 7 when she had urged the Muslim community not to split their votes if they wanted to defeat BJP.

“Ektarfa vote gatbandhan ke umeedwar ko dena hai. Yeh meri khaskar Muslim samaj ke logon se appeal hai.”

Referring to Mayawati’s statement, CM Yogi in an election meeting in Meerut on April 9 had said Mayawati wanted only Muslim votes for the alliance.

“The Congress-SP-BSP-Lok Dal believes in ‘Ali’ as they know that the followers of Bajrang Bali will not tolerate them,” Yogi said.

Without naming Muslims, Yogi described them as a green virus which is about to attack western UP. He further said there was no need for people to come under the influence of the green virus. Eastern UP had been cured of the green virus and now by defeating the Congress-SP-BSP-Lok Dal alliance western UP should free the country’s politics from this green virus forever.

Gandhi told the Muslims in Sultanpur to vote for her if they wanted her to get their work done after she won from the constituency. She said she would not give jobs to Muslims if they did not vote for her and would not like it if she won without their support. However, Gandhi later maintained that her remarks were quoted out of context. — TNS/Agencies