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| Beni Prasad Verma |
The Election Commission yesterday accused Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma of “deliberately and wilfully” making remarks about sub-quota for Muslims.
The minister, however, said he respected the poll panel but had not said anything wrong.
The commission sent a notice to Verma in which the election watchdog said the model code of conduct specifies that “there shall be no appeal to caste or communal feelings for securing votes.”
It said it had received a complaint against the Congress leader that he made the promise during an election meeting in Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh, and added it had obtained a copy of the video recording which shows that the minister violated the model code of conduct.
“Having seen it (video recording, we are) prima facie satisfied that Beni Prasad Verma by making the statements has violated the provisions of the model code of conduct and it is evident from the statements that he was well aware that by making such utterances, he was violating the model code of conduct and yet he deliberately and wilfully did the same,” the poll panel said in its notice.
The poll panel also asked him to “explain” why action should not be taken against him. He was told to reply by 5pm tomorrow.
Verma stuck to his stand.
“I respect the EC... but I don’t remember what I said, in what context, as I have been attending four-five meetings per day for past many months,” Verma told NDTV news channel.
However, Verma asserted that whatever he said while campaigning was not wrong.
He said he did talk about sub-quota for Muslims while campaigning recently in Kayamganj constituency in UP’s Farrukhabad district.
“Around 70% of them are labourers... their condition is bad... and they should get reservation in education and jobs,” he said.
Congress leader and Law Minister Salman Khurshid, who had been earlier censured by the poll panel for a similar remark, said “all ministers will speak according to the poll panel’s guidelines.”
“I think all ministers will see the EC guidelines and then speak accordingly,” Khurshid told a news channel.
Khurshid was the first Congress leader who made remarks about a sub-quota for Muslims while campaigning for his wife Louise, who is contesting from the Farrukhabad assembly constituency.
The poll panel had censured Khurshid and expressed the hope that he would not violate the model code of conduct again.
“You can’t say anything more or less than the manifesto. You can’t make announcement for the first time on something during election,” Khurshid said after the EC’s notice to Verma.
The notice came after a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) delegation on Friday complained to the poll panel about Verma and sought stringent action.
Alleging that the remark was planned, BJP leader Arun Jaitley said: “This is not a mistake... again and again they (the Congress) violate the model code of conduct.”
“They are communalising elections. The EC has put a ban on it and still they do it. This is not happening without the knowledge of their senior leadership,” Jaitley told reporters in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly city.
l BJP president Nitin Gadkari said if his party was voted to power in Uttar Pradesh, the reservation for backward classes would be protected.
Gadkari said his party was opposed to minority reservation and would ensure reservation for backward castes is not reduced.
“The BJP will never support reservation based on religion, because it is unconstitutional,” Gadkari said.
“I would like to assure the people of Uttar Pradesh that the reservation for backward castes will not be reduced even by 1%,” he said.