EC Slaps Notice On CM Mamata For 'Demanding Votes On Communal Ground', Seeks Reply In 48 Hrs

CM Mamata Gets EC Notice: Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, BJP national secretary Sunil Deodhar, senior leader G.V.L. Narasimha Rao and others had met the poll panel and submitted a memorandum

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CM Mamata Gets EC Notice: The Election Commission has sent a notice to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over alleged violation of the model code in a speech where she urged Muslims to unite and vote for Trinamool Congress (TMC). 

The poll panel has asked the Chief Minister to respond in 48 hours. The notice against CM Mamata comes after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members met the poll officials seeking action over the matter. The saffron party alleged that Mamata Banerjee in her speech promoted enmity between Hindus and Muslims. 

Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, BJP national secretary Sunil Deodhar, senior leader G.V.L. Narasimha Rao and others had met the poll panel and submitted a memorandum which stated that Mamata Banerjee in an election meeting at Tarkeshwar on April 3 had appealed to Muslim voters, asking them to not split their votes among different political parties. 

She had asked Muslims to not listen to Indian Secular Front's (ISF) Abbas Siddiqui and AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi during the Tarkeshwar rally. She also alarmed the minority voters, saying that if the BJP came to power in Bengal, they would be in grave danger. 

BJP, in the memorandum to the EC, also emphasised that her appeal was highly divisive and communal in nature, stating that she cited religion to make Muslims vote for the TMC only.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also attacked CM Mamata Banerjee over her remarks.

“Didi recently asked all Muslims to vote en bloc for her. It shows that the Muslim vote bank is slipping out of her hands. Had we said the same thing that all Hindus should unite, everybody would have criticised us. The EC would have sent us notices. We would have been censured,” Prime Minister Modi said while addressing an election rally Cooch Behar.

CM Mamata Banerjee and TMC's response to the Election Commission is now awaited.