The Election Commission (EC) on Thursday banned MoS Finance Anurag Thakur for 72 hours and BJP MP Parvesh Verma for 96 hours from campaigning. However, both the leaders will continue to remain off their party's "star campaigner" list. On Wednesday Delhi Congress approached the Election Commission, urging it to ban Thakur and Verma for making "provocative statements to incite communal violence" ahead of polls in the national capital.
"BJP's star campaigners Parvesh Verma and Anurag Thakur have used objectionable language. Top BJP leaders, including Home Minister Amit Shah, are going around the lanes and bylanes of Delhi, making provocative statements to polarise the atmosphere and incite communal violence. The BJP is doing so out of frustration," senior Congress leader Ajay Maken said.
The EC had sought a report from the Chief Electoral Officer on Thakur and Verma's remarks and because they are "star campaigners", the Delhi CEO can issue them a notice. Only the Election Commission of India can do so, he said.
During an election rally in Delhi, Union minister Thakur egged on the crowd to raise an incendiary slogan — "traitors should be shot at" — after he lashed out at anti-CAA protestors.
Verma, the West Delhi MP, said what happened in Kashmir with Kashmiri Pandits could happen in Delhi, warning that lakhs of anti-CAA protesters in Shaheen Bagh could enter homes to kill and rape women.
