Mayawati calls for ban on candidates' temple visits; seeks EC action

LUCKNOW: BSP chief Mayawati has said that the country now needs just a Prime Minister, not the “sewak, mukhya sewak, chaiwala, chowkidar,” who people have seen till now.

“People have seen enough of such politicians who have come to fool them. However, to now run the country as envisaged in the Constitution, we need a shudh PM,” she said.

In an appeal to the Election Commission, Mayawati has demanded that there should be some rules about media coverage of candidates who have been barred from campaigning due to violation of the

model code of conduct

and who spend that time visiting temples etc in public places.

“If a candidate is banned from campaigning because of violation of the code of conduct, and that candidate goes to temples etc in public places, such events are covered by the media in a big way. The Commission should stop these,” she said.

Recently, both Mayawati and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath had been barred from campaigning for violating the code of conduct. However, the BSP chief had come down hard on Yogi who, because he had been meted out a penalty for his comments on Ali and Bajrangbali, had spent his three day ban visiting multiple temples dedicated to Lord Hanuman, an exercise that had received significant media coverage.