The Election Commission on Wednesday directed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to remove Anurag Thakur and Parvesh Verma from the list of star campaigners for the general elections to the Legislative Assembly, following the provocative remarks made by the two party leaders.
In a video, Thakur was seen addressing a public gathering and can be seen prompting “desh ke gaddaron ko...,” to which the crowd responds “goli maaro saalon ko” (shoot the traitors of the country”).
Meanwhile, the EC also served a show-cause notice to West Delhi MP Parvesh Verma’s provocative statement on Shaheen Bagh. During an interview with a news agency, he said what happened to Kashmiri Pandits could happen in Delhi, warning that lakhs of anti-CAA protesters in Shaheen Bagh could enter homes to kill and rape women.
Star campaigners are those whose expenses are borne by the party which has no limitations on spending. Thakur and Verma can still campaign in the elections but now their expenses will have to be borne by individual candidates who have a ceiling on campaign expenses.