Lok Sabha polls 2014: Election Commission censures Amit Shah, Azam Khan for provocative speeches

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission has censured Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan and BJP general secretary Amit Shah for violating the model code of conduct by making provocative and communally-charged speeches during the course of their campaign in Uttar Pradesh.

The EC, in an order issued on Wednesday, said it was convinced that the two leaders had made "highly provocative speeches which have the impact of aggravating existing differences or create mutual hatred between different communities, religious or linguistic", and thus are violative of provisions of the model code. It said it had arrived at this conclusion after examining their replies to its notices and viewing the video recordings of their speeches.

Shah reacted to the EC order by saying he never intended to breach the model code of conduct. He said he respected the EC, adding that it has to be appreciated that a bowler "sometimes can bowl a no-ball too".

Condemning the "impugned statements" of Khan in Rampur and Ghaziabad and of Shah in Bijnor, Shamli and Muzaffarnagar, the commission censured the two leaders for the said "misconduct".

Incidentally, the EC order could be more of a procedural outcome as both Khan and Shah have already been barred from campaigning in UP for the rest of the phases. The two have petitioned the EC to reconsider its order. The commission is yet to decide on the plea.

While Shah was issued a notice on April 7 and FIRs filed against him in Shamli and Bijnor under Section 125 of the Representation of the People Act and Section 153A of the IPC, for his communal remarks made earlier this month in Muzaffarnagar, Shamli and Bijnor, Khan was slapped with a notice on April 9 for his personal digs at both Narendra Modi and Amit Shah and his controversial statement crediting Muslim soldiers for Kargil victory. A slew of FIRs have been lodged against Khan over the last few days.