New Delhi: The Election Commission on Thursday issued notice to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for accusing his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal of feeding 'biryani' to protesters in Shaheen Bagh, who have been in a sit-in for around 50 days now, demonstrating against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC). According to reports, the poll panel has written to Adityanth  for violating the model code of conduct and gave him till February 7 to 'explain' his position.


The EC said the UP Chief Minister has violated the code of conduct for "criticism of other parties or their workers based on unverified allegations or distortion". This move comes after after the EC received a report from the Chief Electoral Officer, Delhi, informing the commission about a speech Adityanath gave in Delhi's Karawal Nagar on February 1.

This is in reference to his 'biryani' speech which Adityanath gave while referring to Shaheen Bagh's anti-CAA protests. He purportedly said, "Kejriwal may like to feed 'biryani' to Shaheen Bagh protesters. Its not something that BJP is keen on." He also referred to Pakistan and terrorists in that purported comment.

Below is the copy of the notice served by Election Commission of India to Yogi Adityanath:

 (Source: Election Commission of India/ Website)

Ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi had demanded a ban on Adityanath campaigning in Delhi. With the development, Adityanath became the fourth Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader to be reprimanded by EC during the Delhi election campaign.

Campaigning in Delhi, since February 1, Adityanath has raised the Biryani issue everyday. On Monday, he was in Vikaspuri, when he said: "Pakistani Minister is praising (Delhi Chief Minister Arvind) Kejriwal because he knows only Kejriwal can feed Biryani in Shaheen Bagh."

Kejriwal too, has slammed his Uttar Pradesh counterpart: "The fate of hospitals in UP is known to everyone and specially in Gorakhpur first the UP CM should look after his own state."

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The poll panel has asked the UP CM to reply February 7, failing which would lead to the commission to take action without any further reference to him. BJP launched a power packed campaign in Delhi with top leadership including Amit Shah, Adityanath, Narendra Modi, Rajnath Singh and others hitting the campaign trail.

In the 2015 Delhi assembly elections, AAP registered a massive win riding on the wave of the anti-corruption Anna movement. It got 54 per cent votes and won 67 out of 70 seats in the assembly.  The 70-member Delhi Assembly will go to the polls on February 8. The results will be declared on February 11.