Poll panel reprimands Yogi Adityanath, orders case be filed

The Election Commission Thursday "reprimanded" BJP MP Yogi Adityanath for violating the Model Code of Conduct and asked the Uttar Pradesh chief electoral officer (CEO) to ensure that an FIR is lodged against him.

"The commission reprimands you for the said misconduct and cautions you to be careful in future in making public utterances during election speeches to avoid further violation of the Model Code of Conduct," the order said.

The commission Tuesday issued a notice to the Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Gorakhpur for violating the model code of conduct by allegedly making statements appealing to voters on religious grounds.

The notice was issued after the panel received a report from the Gautam Buddh Nagar election officer about the statements made by Adityanath Sep 7.

The EC Thursday said that it has carefully gone through the contents of the reply sent by Adityanath and has noted the "factually wrong" statements made in it.

"The commission has also not accepted the averment in the said reply on your (Adityanath's) behalf that your speech was aimed at the objective of complete religious harmony as the CD covering your speech manifestedly shows that you invoked religion and made appeal on this grounds of religion to secure votes for your party," the notice said.

The commission asked the the state CEC to ensure that an FIR is lodged against Adityanath for violation of the Model Code of Conduct in his speech last week, and sought a compliance report by 5 p.m. Friday.