MCC Violation: EC bans Yogi Adityanath from campaigning for 72 hours, Mayawati for 48 hours

April 15: After the Supreme Court on Monday pulled up the Election Commission for not taking strict action against hate speeches on religious lines during election rallies, the poll body woke up and took action against Yogi Adityanath and Mayawati. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been barred from campaigning for the next three days (72 hours) for his communal comments. The Election Commission also took action against Mayawati, barring her from campaigning for 48 hours for her provocative speech.

Yogi Adityanath has been pulled up for calling the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) a ‘virus’ as well as for his April 9 speech in which he had said, “If the Congress, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party have faith in Ali, we have faith in Bajrang Bali (another name for Hanuman).”

“The Commission observes that being the CM of a state, Sh Yogi Adityanath has an added responsibility to not only uphold the basic tenets, including secularism of the Constitution but also to display the same in his public appearances/speeches as well,” the Election Commission said in its order on Monday. The Election Commission has barred him from holding any public meetings, public processions, public rallies, road shows and interviews, public utterances in media (electronic, print, social media) etc in connection with the ongoing elections for 72 hours from 6 am on 16 April 2019.

Mayawati has also been censured by the Election Commission for 48 hours from 6 am on 16 April 2019 for her statement asking members of the Muslim community to vote for the candidate of the SP-BSP coalition. The Election Commission has stated that both the leaders violated the Model Code of Conduct and made “highly provocative speeches” which have the “tone and tenor to aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred between different religious communities.”