EC asks UP CEO to file FIR against Yogi Adityanath

The Election Commission of India on Thursday asked the Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Umesh Sinha to ensure filing of an FIR against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament from Gorakhpur, Yogi Adityanath for "provoking feelings of enmity."

On Wednesday, defying the Lucknow Additional District Magistrate's orders not to hold a public rally in the Munshi Pulia area of Lucknow, Yogi Adityanath, who is the face of the BJP campaign for the upcoming by-polls in Uttar Pradesh, went ahead and held the rally. This led to the Uttar Pradesh administration filed an FIR against Yogi Adityanath for defying the ban.

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 also 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.