Azam gets another notice from poll panel

Having already attracted a censure from the Election Commission, in addition to a ban on his poll campaign, SP leader Azam Khan was on Wednesday served a fresh notice by the EC for having made “scurrilous allegations” against the Commission.

Noting that Khan had “persistently, continuously and wilfully” indulged in violation of the model code of conduct even after having been issued a showcause notice on April 9, the EC told Khan that instead of complying with its April 11 order, which banned his public meetings, he “made attempts to circumvent” the EC’s directions by “making an objectionable remark about ECI during a TV interview” on April 13 and “by getting your (sic) an objectionable speech read over by one of your party workers” in an election meeting of Mulayam Singh Yadav on April 14.

The EC also told Khan that he had made “totally baseless and scurrilous allegations against Election Commission of India, a constitutional authority enjoined upon by the mandate to conduct free, fair, and transparent elections” and “also made statement which has impact of creating mutual hatred amongst different sections of society, religious as well as linguistic”.

Khan was also informed by the EC that he had made “provocative statements” while addressing public meetings at Sambhal (April 9), Rampur (April 10) and Bijnor (April 10) and that these statements “have the impact of aggravating existing differences or create mutual hatred between different communities”. Khan has been given time till 5 pm on April 25 to reply to this latest notice.