Hate speech: EC imposes campaign ban on Adiyanath, Mayawati & Maneka for provocative remarks

In a first, the Election Commission on Monday imposed a nationwide campaign ban on Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath for 72 hours and on Union Minister Maneka Gandhi and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati for 48 hours from Tuesday for their "provocative" communal remarks, which it said had the "propensity to polarise the elections".

A 72-hour campaign ban has also been imposed on Samajwadi Party's Azam Khan for his alleged "khaki underwear" jibe against actor-politician Jaya Prada, who is his rival BJP candidate in Rampur Lok Sabha seat.

The all-India ban on all four leaders -- two from the ruling BJP and two from opposition parties -- comes into force from 6.00 AM Tuesday.

While Adityanath, Mayawati and Gandhi were found guilty of violating the model code, the EC said Khan not only violated the poll code, he also disregarded its November 2013 directive asking politicians to desist from "deeds or actions construed as being repugnant to the honour and dignity of women".

For the first time a pan-India ban has been imposed on politicians, while any restriction on a chief minister and a union minister is unprecedented.

While there was no immediate reaction from Adityanath, Mayawati alleged the order has been passed "under pressure" and it would be remembered as a "black day" in the EC's history. She has faced action for appealing to Muslims to not vote for the Congress to avoid their anti-BJP votes getting divided.

Her alliance partner and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav asked the EC whether it is capable to issue similar directives to the prime minister to stop him from asking for votes in name of the Army.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks asking first-time voters to dedicate their vote to those who carried out the Balakot air strike are under examination of the poll panel. The poll authorities in Maharashtra's Latur, where he made the speech, have told EC that prima facie the comments are violative of its orders asking parties against using the armed forces in their campaigns.

The EC order to bar Adityanath and Mayawati came soon after the Supreme Court asking the poll watchdog about the action it has initiated against them.

However, a senior EC functionary said the commission had examined the two issues on April 14-15, and came up with the final decision after lots of deliberation as it felt a clear message needed to go out to the politicians.

In its order, the commission said it "strongly condemns" the impugned statement made by the UP chief minister and "censured" him for "misconduct".

Using its constitutional powers, the EC barred him from "holding any public meetings, public processions, public rallies, road shows and interviews, public utterances in media (print, electronic and social media) in connection with the ongoing elections for 72 hours (three days) from 6.00 am on April 16."
On different ban periods for the leaders, a senior EC official said, "It is for the second time that Adityanath has been issued a show cause notice. On April 5, he was asked to be 'careful' in future, following his 'Modiji ki sena' remarks. Besides, Khan had faced a similar ban in 2014 for campaigning in UP."