File FIR against Yogi Adityanath: Election Commission to Uttar Pradesh

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission has directed the UP government to file an FIR against BJP’s firebrand MP Yogi Adityanath for allegedly promoting religious enmity.

The MP from Gorakhpur, who is BJP’s star campaigner in the ongoing by-elections had allegedly delivered a hate speech in Noida recently while campaigning for the party candidate.

Reprimanding Yogi Adityanath from repeating the same, it has directed an FIR be filed against the leader. Adityanath had a faceoff with the state government on Wednesday too, when despite the administration not allowing him to hold a rally, he addressed a crowd in Lucknow. The district administration filed an FIR against the BJP candidate from Lucknow assembly seat, Ashutosh Tandon, and others.

While it did not name Adityanath in the FIR, the report sent by the district magistrate to EC stated that he was present at the illegal gathering and also addressed the crowds.

The 42-year-old leader has been accused of trying to polarise voters before the bypolls to 11 assembly seats and one Lok Sabah seat of Mainpuri in UP. Mayawati’s BSP, after being decimated in the Lok Sabha polls has opted out of contesting the bypolls and the elections has become a straight contest between SP and BJP.