The Election Commission (EC) on April 13 warned Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari over a speech delivered by him on March 29, as part of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly Election campaign. The speech allegedly had communal overtones.
The election authority has advised him to refrain from using such statements while making public utterances when the Model Code of Conduct is in force.
The EC, in its order, warns Adhikari over a speech delivered by him on March 29, for which he had filed a reply on April 9.
The EC notice, issued to the Nandigram candidate last week was on a complaint from Kavita Krishnan of CPI-ML Central Committee in which she alleged that Adhikari on March 29 delivered a "hate speech" in Nandigram.
Nandigram is perhaps the most-watched contest of the Bengal assembly where Cheif Minister Mamata Banerjee is pitted against Adhikari, a close aide who switched sides to the BJP a few weeks ahead of the election
In its notice, the ECI on April 8 asked Adhikari to submit a reply within 24 hours of receiving the notice, failing which the commission "shall take a decision without further reference to you".
Adhikari allegedly told Nandigram’s voters not to vote for Trinamool Congress candidates or Banerjee, warning that the state would then become a "mini-Pakistan".
"Election is knocking at the door. You are not giving votes to Begum. If you vote for Begum there will be mini Pakistan. (Barely audible)...A Daud Ibrahim has come up in your locality....We will note down everything. What is the government doing? What is the use of it?," the notice quoted Adhikari as saying.
Earlier in the day, EC issued a notice to West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh over his remarks that more Cooch Behar-like killings may happen in the next phase of assembly elections if "naughty boys like the ones who died in Sitalkuchi" try to take the law into their hands.
The poll panel imposed a ban on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rahul Sinha from campaigning for 48 hours over his remarks on the Cooch Behar firing incident in which four locals lost their lives during the fourth phase of polling in West Bengal.
On April 12, the EC imposed a 24-hour ban on West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee from campaigning in the ongoing polls.