Defiant BJP says Yogi Adityanath has not violated EC instructions

The president of the Uttar Pradesh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Laxmikant Bajpai, on Thursday said his party had not violated the Election Commission's instructions with regard to the rally held by BJP MP Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow yesterday.

"We have not violated any instructions given by the Election Commission. We have protested against the unconstitutional ways of the Lucknow administration under the garb of the model code of conduct. On the 5th, we were given permission. On the 7th, it was rejected under the false impression that we are trying to create trouble. We just addressed the meeting from a permit-owned van, and said what was necessary. We will see what the EC has said, we have full faith in it. We will accept the order of the EC," Bajpai told ANI.

Defying the EC's orders not to hold a public rally in the Munshi Pulia area of the city, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament from Gorakhpur, Yogi Adityanath, who is the face of the BJP campaign for the upcoming by-polls in Uttar Pradesh, went ahead and held the rally.

Earlier this morning the Uttar Pradesh administration filed an FIR against Yogi Adityanath for defying the ban in Lucknow.

Yogi Adityanath had been denied permission to hold a rally for the BJP candidate Gopal Tandon by Shrihari Pratap Shahi, Additional District Magistrate, after the Samajwadi Party's Juhie Singh and the Congress's Ramesh Srivastava also sought permission for rallies at the same venue.

Tandon, Singh and Srivastava are all contesting the Lucknow East constituency in the by-polls on September 13.

Adityanath was at the centre of controversy after the Election Commission on Tuesday served him a notice against incendiary remarks made by him during an election rally in Noida on Sunday.