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P Chidambaram
Jaswant Singh
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New Delhi/Jaipur, April 5
In a flurry of orders, the Election Commission today strongly disapproved of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s remarks against a UP district magistrate and issued notices to Home Minister P Chidambaram and BJP leader Jaswant Singh for alleged violation of the model code.
The three-member commission, headed by N Gopalaswami, advised Yadav to be “more cautious” and exercise “restraint” in the future, while noting that his reply to its notice was not satisfactory, according to an EC spokesman. The panel’s notice to Yadav followed his remarks against District Magistrate Ministry Dileep, who had cancelled certain arms licences in Mainpuri from where he is contesting the Lok Sabha polls.
An angry Yadav had during a public meeting warned that he would register a complaint with the EC against the district magistrate whom he accused of losing her sense of proportion and not being able to differentiate between a criminal and a common man. He had also suggested that she should get her “head checked” and asked her to mend ways.
The commission issued a notice to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on the complaint of Rajasthan BJP which alleged that the minister had violated the model code of conduct by offering poll sops during his visit to the state last month.
Chidambaram had visited Jaipur on March 24 to review the security scenario ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. During his visit, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had taken up the matter of Hindu migrants from Pakistan with him. The CM had urged the Union Home Minister to reduce the citizenship fee for the migrants from the revised fee of Rs 10,000. He also requested him to allow stoppage of Khokrapar-Munnabao train at Barmer, as most of these migrants had to alight at Jodhpur and then travel all the way to Barmer.
In its complaint to the EC a day later, the BJP sought action against Chidambaram and Gehlot, accusing them of making announcements meant to please displaced Pakistani nationals living in the state.
The complaint further claimed that the Home Minister talked about granting citizenship to displaced Hindus from Pakistan and additional facilities for passengers travelling by “Thar Express”.
The EC also issued notice to senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh for allegedly distributing money during a public meeting in Rajasthan's Barmer district.The commission slapped the notice on Jaswant Singh days after a video footage allegedly showing him distributing cash during a poll meeting was aired by television channels. The Rajasthan Congress unit has accused the former Union Minister of violating the model code by distributing money among people in Gagaria village in Barmer
district.
