EC bans MoS Anurag Thakur from campaigning for 72 hours, BJP MP Parvesh Verma barred for 96 hours

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday banned Union minister Anurag Thakur and BJP MP Parvesh Verma for 72 hours and 96 hours, respectively, for violating the model code of conduct by making inflammatory speech ahead of Delhi assembly elections. 

Earlier, the EC had ordered the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to immediately remove the two leaders from the list of star campaigners of the party for the upcoming Delhi assembly elections.

While action against Thakur, the Minister of State (MoS) for Finance, has been taken for raising a controversial slogan, Verma courted controversy by saying that the anti-CAA protesters in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh will be cleared within an hour if BJP came to power.

Addressing a public meeting on Monday in support of BJP's Rithala candidate - Manish Chaudhary - Thakur linked opposition parties with anti-CAA protests in Shaheen Bagh and then asked the crowd to raise the controversial slogan. 

As the minister shouted "desh ke gaddaron ko", the crowd responded with chants of "goli maro sa*** ko." 

The EC has acted against Verma for saying that the anti-CAA protesters in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh "will enter your houses, rape your sisters and daughters."

On Tuesday, a Congress party delegation moved the Election Commission urging a ban on campaigning by both BJP leaders for their incendiary statements which were meant to incite "communal violence", thereby breaching the model code of conduct. 

The voting for the Delhi Assembly is scheduled to take place on February 8 and the counting will begin on February 11.