The Election Commission on January 30th, 2020, imposed a 72-hour campaigning ban on Union Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur on charges of making provocative slogans at a Delhi election meeting.
BJP leader Parvesh Verma has also been banned from campaigning in the national capital for 96 hours.
Thakur and Verma were the BJP’s star campaigners for the February 8th, 2020, elections in Delhi. They were taken off this list on January 29th, 2020, on the Election Commission’s orders but their party had insisted that they were allowed to campaign.
That situation changed today after the poll panel decided to ban them from campaigning for their statements that rivals alleged, were divisive and communally charged.
In a viral video, Thakur, who was campaigning in Rithala, was seen purportedly prompting the crowd, saying “desh ke gaddaron ko… (traitors of the country…),” to which the crowd responded with “goli maaron … (shoot them…)”.
On the other hand, Verma had been accused of multiple violations of the election code of conduct. He had announced at a public event that Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh area will be cleared of protesters agitating against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act within an hour if his party came to power in Delhi, allegedly promised to demolish mosques built on public land in his constituency. He represents West Delhi in the Lok Sabha.
Photo credit: @official.anuragthakur
