Uttar Pradesh with 80 parliamentary constituencies is the largest contributor Members of Parliament. However, it also has the distinction of maximum number of instances of violation of the Election Model Code of Conduct during the ongoing general elections. The state has reportedly notched as many as 139 cases of poll code violations out of the over 500 cases across India so far!
The largest number of violations were reported from Firozabad. Of the total 28 violations, 13 were courtesy the BJP, followed by Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) with 7 and the SP-BSP alliance with 6. The constituency of Rampur came in a close second with 24 violations. Key offenders here include SP’s Azam Khan who made a comment about “khaki underwear” of a female opponent and Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi who called Azam Khan “Magambo” and “Khalnayak”.
But UP’s most prominent case is the one where Chief Minister Adityanath referred to the Indian armed forces as “Modiji ki Sena”. However, in this case Adityanath got nothing more than a light rap on the knuckles. Other prominent cases of poll code violation from UP include Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma making a derogatory remark about Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for which he was served a notice by the EC. Another offender was SP leader Feroze Khan who made a sexist remark against Jaya Prada.
Interestingly, UP Chief Electoral Officer L Venkateshwarlu told India Today that there were no pending cases.