Samajwadi Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday said the Election Commission should ban Prime Minister Narendra Modi “for 72 years” for alleging that around 40 Trinamool Congress legislators were ready to desert their party after the Lok Sabha elections.
“Vikas [development] is asking, did you hear the shameful speech of pradhanji [the prime minister]?” Yadav said in a tweet. “After losing the faith of 125 crore countrymen, he [Modi] is now relying on the unethical assurance of defection allegedly given by 40 MLAs. This reflects his black money mentality. He should be banned for not 72 hours but for 72 years.”
Earlier this month, the Election Commission banned some politicians from campaigning for 72 hours for violating the Model Code of Conduct.
At a campaign rally in Serampore Lok Sabha constituency of West Bengal’s Hooghly district on Monday, Modi warned Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of a mass revolt within her party.
“When the [election] results are out on May 23, lotus will bloom everywhere [a reference to the BJP’s party symbol] and your legislators will also abandon you,” Modi said. “Even today, 40 of your [Banerjee’s] MLAs are in touch with me.” Soon after, the Trinamool Congress said it will file a complaint against Modi with the Election Commission and accused him of horse trading.
Modi also mocked Banerjee’s alleged prime ministerial ambitions and said Delhi was out of her reach. He claimed that Mamata Banerjee’s main ambition was to establish her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee.
Election Commission’s actions
Over the past month, the Election Commission has taken action against several people such as Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Adityanath, Giriraj Singh and Maneka Gandhi, Samajwadi Party’s Azam Khan and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati.
On Tuesday, the poll panel is set to decide on the alleged violations of the Model Code of Conduct by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah.
The meeting will be held on the day when the Supreme Court will hear a Congress MP’s petition to direct the Election Commission to speed up the decision on alleged poll code violations by Modi and Shah.
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