EC bans Azam Khan from campaigning for 72 hours over remark on Jaya Prada

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Coming down hard against Azam Khan over his alleged - and extremely derogatory - remarks against Jaya Prada, the Election Commission on Monday banned the Samajwadi Party leader from campaigning for 72 hours staring 1000hrs Tuesday.

Facing flak from political leaders cutting across party line, Azam Khan has been in the eye of a storm since the derogatory manner in which he sought to link Jaya Prada with RSS. While the SP leader has said he has been misquoted, the EC charged him for violating the Model Code of Conduct.

Azam Khan allegedly made the remark against Jaya Prada during a campaign in Rampur where the two are facing off for Lok Sabha election 2019. Party leader Akhilesh Yadav attempted to defend Azam Khan by putting the onus on the media but not many bought his argument in favour of his party colleague.

Azam Khan and Jaya Prada too were party colleagues but had had a fall out long before Jaya Prada left SP. She is now contesting the election on a BJP ticket.

(Note: Zeenews.com has intentionally edited out the alleged remark made by Azam Khan from the above copy)