Lucknow: A BJP leader has moved the Election Commission against Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati accusing her of seeking votes in the name of caste, a charge trashed by a BSP leader today.
BJP's UP executive member Neeraj Shankar Saxena moved a petition against the BSP supremo on Saturday demanding that her party be debarred from contesting polls and demanded filing of FIR against her for "flouting" Supreme Court directives.
"Mayawati during her press conference on December 24 and January 3 presented caste-wise details of ticket distribution clearly stating that her party has given tickets to how many Muslims, backwards, SCs and others," Saxena told PTI.
Countering him, BSP leader Sudhindra Bhadoria said, "Mayawati has done what is constitutionally, legally correct. We wanted to tell people that we are not a party of Dalits only, but a party where Muslims, OBCs, upper castes, other communities...Everybody is under one umbrella."
Turning tables on BJP, he said, "Look at their track record. What have they been saying? Sakshi Maharaj said Muslims are responsible for population boom. Amit Shah during Bihar elections said that if BJP lost, there will be celebrations in Pakistan. Look at what other leaders like Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti are saying."
His retort came after Saxena also accused BSP workers of distributing booklets titled "Muslim samaj ka sachcha hitaishi kaun-faisla aap karein" in all the constituencies.
Saxena said this too was against the SC directives that votes cannot be sought on the basis of caste, community or language.
On January 3, Mayawati had said in a press conference that of the 403 seats, 85 are reserved for the SCs and 87 tickets have been given to Dalits, 97 to Muslims, 106 to OBCs, 66 to Brahmins, 36 to Kshetriyas and 11 to Kayasthas, Vaishyas and Punjabis.
The SC in its ruling last week had said religion and caste cannot be used to seek votes and made it clear that religion has no role in the electoral process and that it is just a secular activity.
