Lucknow: Hours after BJP leader Yogi Adityanath defied a ban on his election meeting here, police lodged an FIR against the controversial MP and other party leaders who participated in the rally. SSP Praveen Kumar on Thursday said that cases were lodged late on Wednesday night against Adityanath and others who participated in the meeting on Wednesday.
Defying the ban, Adityanath, the BJP's lead campaigner in UP, had addressed an election meeting in which he accused the SP government of following a communal agenda. A district administration official said that "An FIR has been lodged against BJP candidate from Lucknow (east) seat Ashutosh Tandon Gopalji and others under various sections of the IPC at Ghazipur Police Station". He said the entire meeting was videographed by the administration.
"Others (whose names are lodged in the FIR) include all those who are visible in the video," he said. Other than Adityanath, BJP MPs Jagdambika Pal, Lallu Singh and former MP and father of Gopalji Lalji Tandon were present during the meeting. The official said that a CD of the meeting would be sent to the Election Commission on Thursday. "A CD is being send to the EC by a special messenger," he said.
Claiming that he was not allowed to hold meetings in Thakurdwara, Mainpuri and Nighasan where Assembly by-elections are being held, Adityanath had addressed one of them using his mobile phone. Later in the state capital, he defied police which had withdrawn permission to him to address an election meeting at Indira Nagar locality by appearing on the stage.
Adityanath had accused the district administration of not allowing him to address the meeting at the behest of the Uttar Pradesh government. "I had to hold meetings at Thakurdwara, Mainpuri and Nighasan but the district administration did not allow me to do so. The district administration had withdrawn permission on directions of the government in an illegal way," he had alleged.
BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said the party would reply to the action taken by the administration legally. "We have full faith in constitutional bodies. We did nothing wrong and Yogi went there only to meet the party workers," he said. He alleged that initially the administration gave permission for the meeting, but withdrew it at the last moment.
"As we have already publicised the meeting, the leaders had to reach there. Besides neither public address system was used, nor any stage was set," he said. The Chief Election Officer of Uttar Pradesh Umesh Sinha had sought a report from Lucknow district administration on the rally addressed by Adityanath. The district administration has also been asked to provide a CD of the rally to ascertain whether the BJP MP had violated the Representation of People Act and the model code of conduct through his utterances.
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