Pragya's reply on remark over Karkare sent to EC: MP CEO

Madhya Pradesh's top poll officer Monday forwarded to the Election Commission (EC) the reply submitted by BJP Lok Sabha candidate Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur over her controversial statement on 26/11 martyr and Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) V L Kantha Rao said Thakur's reply has been sent to the EC for further action.

"We had issued a notice to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur for her controversial statement regarding martyred police officer in Mumbai's 26/11 terror strike (Karkare).

"Sadhvi has submitted her reply and the same along with the report of the district returning officer has been sent to the EC for further action," he told reporters here.

Rao, however, did not disclose the content of the reply submitted by the BJP candidate from the Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency, who is an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case.

As Thakur's statement, which she later withdrew, created a political storm, the Election Commission issued a show-cause notice to her seeking reply.

The 48-year-old right-wing activist was later handed a second EC notice for her remark on demolition of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya in 1992.

Thakur, out on bail in the blast case, had said she was "proud" of her participation in demolition of the Babri Masjid.

Asked about the second notice, Rao said the sadhvi has yet not given her reply on it.

On Monday in Kolkata, BJP president Amit Shah defended his party's decision to field Thakur as its Lok Sabha candidate, saying allegations against her are false and the real culprits in the Malegaon blast case have evaded the law.

Six people were killed and over 100 injured when an explosive device strapped on a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon, a town in north Maharashtra, on September 29, 2008.