)
Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Saturday said the ban on campaigning imposed by Election Commission (EC) on Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan was "inappropriate" and it had led to resentment among the people. He said the EC should review the ban on Khan from holding public rally.
"The EC should review its decision of imposing ban on Azam Khan... There is resentment among the people because of ban on him," Yadav said at a rally in Bareilly this afternoon. "Khan is an honest and dedicated leader of the country... EC would not get any credit for imposing ban on him instead there is resentment in public over it," he said. Earlier in Lakhimpur Kheri, he said he would appeal to the EC to lift the ban. The SP chief, whose remarks on rapists led to a major controversy, said,"innocents are framed in fake cases which often lead them to gallows and SP is against this".
The EC on Friday imposed a ban on Khan's campaigning in the state over his controversial remarks. Yadav also exuded confidence that "neither BJP nor Congress would be able to form the next government at the Centre and it would be the Third Front which would gain majority in the coming polls."
