Cong leader urges EC to act against BJP minister Shelar for 'divisive' remark on voters' list

Nagpur, Nov 4 (PTI) Congress leader Nitin Raut on Tuesday urged the Maharashtra Election Commission (EC) to take a strict action against minister Ashish Shelar over his appeasement politics barb, calling it a violation of election laws and model of conduct.

Shelar on Monday claimed that Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray were practising appeasement politics by only pointing out duplicate Hindu voter names, while ignoring similar cases with Muslim electors.

Raut, who represents the Nagpur North assembly constituency, filed a complaint against the EC.

He said a highly objectionable and legally impermissible statement was made by BJP minister Ashish Shelar, which is aimed at creating a rift between communities on religious lines.

Shelar specifically referred to 8,342 duplicate Muslim voters in North Nagpur, a statement that targets a particular religious community and promotes hatred and division, the former minister claimed.

"The statement constitutes an attempt at religious appeasement and polarisation before the official announcement of the municipal and local body elections and undermines the neutrality and integrity of the Election Commission as voter registration and verification fall exclusively under the Commission's jurisdiction," the complaint said.

Raut further said the statement constitutes a violation of the following legal provisions of Section 123 (3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which prohibits appeals to religion, race, caste, community, or language for electoral gains; section 196 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) that criminalises promotion of enmity between different groups on grounds of religion.

He also cited the Model Code of Conduct that forbids any party or candidate from using communal or caste based appeals.

In his complaint, the Congress leader requested the EC to take immediate cognisance of the statement made by Shelar and initiate stringent action against him so as to create a precedent amongst the public at large and also so as to conduct upcoming elections in an unbiased and ethical manner.

Such actions are essential to preserve the sanctity, impartiality and secular character of the electoral process in Maharashtra, he said.

Elections to 246 municipal councils and 42 nagar panchayats in the state will take place on December 2, while the votes will be counted on December 3. An announcement to this effect was made on Tuesday. PTI CLS NP