BJP MP Parvesh Verma Again Banned From Campaigning For Delhi Polls

BJP MP Parvesh Verma has been banned again from campaigning in Delhi for 24 hours starting today for calling Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal a "terrorist", the Election Commission said today. Last week, he was banned from campaigning for 96 hours for making hate speeches.

"The (Election) Commission is of the considered view that Sh. Parvesh Sahib Singh made vitriolic aspersions against Sh. Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi which violate... the Model Code of Conduct..." the election body said in a statement today.

The first ban on campaigning by Mr Verma came after he claimed that those who have dug in on a stretch of road at south Delhi's Shaheen Bagh against the amended citizenship law "will enter your houses, rape your sisters and daughters". Hundreds of protesters led by women have set up camp at Shaheen Bagh for nearly two months now.

Mr Verma on Tuesday justified calling Mr Kejriwal a "terrorist" over the latter's alleged support to Shaheen Bagh protesters. "If the Delhi chief minister calls the Prime Minister a desh drohi, he can be called a terrorist. If the Delhi chief minister stands with the protesters of Shaheen Bagh who are raising slogans of Pakistan zindabad, he can be called a terrorist. If the Delhi chief minister raises doubts over a surgical strike conducted by the country's army on enemy territory, he can be called a terrorist," the BJP leader told NDTV.

The BJP politician claimed that "only the people of Delhi" can place a ban on him. "The people of Delhi will decide whether the ban imposed on me was justified or not. The people of Delhi will decide that on February 8," he said.

On January 30, the Election Commission had also banned Union Minister Anurag Thakur from campaigning for the Delhi polls for 96 hours on charges of making hate speeches.