EC issues fresh show cause notice to SP leader Azam Khan for making inflammatory remarks

LUCKNOW: It seems that trouble for Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan is set to increase in the coming days as the Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday issued a fresh show cause notice to him for making allegedly inflammatory remarks at various places in Uttar Pradesh during Lok Sabha campaign in the past few days.

Azam Khan, who is also SP's candidate from Rampur Lok Sabha constituency, has been given 24 hours by the poll panel to respond to the notice. In its notice the EC has said that prima facie Azam Khan  is guilty of violating the provisions of Model Code of Conduct.

The EC said that on one occasion, the SP leader had allegedly said that ‘fascists were trying to kill’ him. On another occasion, Azam Khan had also allegedly claimed that the prime minister has killed Muslims.

It is to be noted that the EC had on Monday imposed a 72-hour campaign ban on Azam Khan for using very objectionable language agaisnt BJP leader Jaya Prada during election campaign. Actor-turned-politician Jaya Prada is BJP's candidate from Rampur. In its order, the EC reportedly said Khan’s comment was “not only indecent but also derogatory and totally uncalled for”.

The EC had said in its order that Azam Khan was also banned from campaigning in Uttar Pradesh during the 2014 elections but he is “still indulging in using very objectionable language in election campaigning.”

The National Commission for Women has also served a notice to Azam Khan for his objectionable comment against Jaya Prada and has urged the EC the EC to bar the SP leader from contesting in Lok Sabha poll.

For his part, Azam Khan has repeatedly maintained that he never made any objectionable remarks against Jaya Prada and media had twisted his remarks to portray him in a bad light. 

Talking to ANI, Azam Khan had said that he did not take Jaya's name and he was ready to not contest the poll if proved guilty. "I have said that people took time to know real face in reference to a man once said that he brought 150 rifles with him and if he sees Azam, he would have shot him dead. My leaders also did a mistake. Now, it has been revealed that he has an RSS pant on his body. Short is worn by men," Khan told ANI.