Mulayam threatened poll officer, finds EC

The Election Commission held Mulayam Singh Yadav guilty of threatening Mainpuri District Magistrate Dileep Ministhy, reports HT Correspondent.

The Election Commission on Monday held Mulayam Singh Yadav guilty of threatening Mainpuri District Magistrate Dileep Ministhy. It has issued a show cause notice to the Samajwadi Party president and sought an explanation on why action should not be taken against him.

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This is the second such notice issued to Yadav for violation of the model code of conduct this election season. The commission is yet to decide on the earlier notice, which had been issued for distributing money during a Holi milan function at his village.

The commission after going through the transcript of a 45-minute CD found that Yadav had made “threatening remarks” to Ministhy, who is the Returning Officer for the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, from where Yadav is contesting.

“Yadav had made a veiled threat used and used un-parliamentary language against her,” a commission official said, referring to his speech delivered on March 23 at a public rally in Mainpuri.

The SP leader’s conduct, the commission said, was an obstacle for free and fair elections.

“Such actions affect the morale of the district election machinery involved in the conduct of elections,” the commission said in the notice, to which Yadav is required to reply by April 3.

In a report submitted to the commission, Chief Electoral Officer of Uttar Pradesh Vinod Kumar Bishoi had submitted two CDs. In the first, the commission had found nothing objectionable against Yadav. It was the second CD where he was allegedly shown issuing threats to Ministhy. The Kerala born IAS officer had, however, not lodged any formal complaint against Yadav with the commission.