Election Commission warns Mulayam Singh Yadav against breaching poll code

The Election Commission on Friday warned Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav against violating the model code of conduct while campaigning for the general election.The commission had issued a notice to Mulayam Singh April 18 seeking an explanation about his remarks on regularization of appointments of Siksha Mitra (teachers) in Uttar Pradesh.

In his reply submitted April 19, he said that the decision to regularize the teachers was taken by the party-led Uttar Pradesh government before the elections were announced and he, as president of the party, had no power to modify the order. However, the panel did not accept his explanation and issued the warning. "The commission has considered his aforesaid reply carefully and has again seen the video recording of his speech dated April 3 in Bulandshahar and is convinced that he has made the impugned statement, and thus violated the aforesaid provisions of the model code of conduct," the EC notice said.

"Now, therefore, the commission, hereby, warns him to be careful in future and expects that he shall not make any statement during election campaigning which may constitute a violation of the model code of conduct," it said.