Four days ahead of the by-election in the Noida assembly constituency of western Uttar Pradesh, the Election Commission late on Tuesday evening issued notice to BJP MP Yogi Adityanath for violation of the Model Code of Conduct.
An EC statement says he has been given till 6 pm on Wednesday evening to explain why action should not be taken against him.
The Gorakhpur MP, the BJP’s lead campaigner in U.P. has been charged with violating several sections of the model code : these relate to activity that aggravate “existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic,” make an appeal to caste or communal feelings for securing votes,” using “religion for furtherance of the prospects of election of a candidate,” promoting “enmity or hatred between different classes of the citizens of lndia on grounds of religion, race, caste, community, or language” to help a candidate.
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This comes against the backdrop of Yogi Adityanath consistently making inflammatory speeches through the campaign, the most recent on Sunday when he blamed people of a minority religion for the State’s recent communal tensions.
“There have been 450 riots cases in West U.P. in two-and-a-half years of Samajwadi Party because the population of a particular community is rising manifold. Why there are no riots in Eastern UP? You can easily understand,” he said during a rally in Noida.