EC: sexist bias exaggerated

The Election Commission is unlikely to initiate any stringent action against Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav for a speech...

The Election Commission is unlikely to initiate any stringent action against Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav for a speech widely termed as sexist that he delivered in his constituency,Mainpuri,on March 24.

I am not saying anything to you Madam DM,because you are a woman. I respect you because you are a woman. Better behave yourself. Mulayam Singh will fight elections from here and I will speak to the Election Commission. If she doesnt mend her ways within a week,let me know, Mulayam was quoted as saying.

A full-strength Election Commission that went through the CD sent by the UP chief electoral officer on Thursday found the claims of a sexist bias in Mulayams speech exaggerated.

Sources said apart from the charges against Mulayam appearing exaggerated,Mainpuri DM Ministhy Dileep,against whom the speech was supposed to have been targeted,has herself not lodged any complaint. Sources said there were also issues about Mulayam8217;s style of speaking,with the Commission finding it extremely difficult to decipher the contents of his speech. The quality of the CD,too,was found to be poor. The EC,however,could not go through the full CD on Thursday,and will complete the job on Friday.

The Election Commission,meanwhile,is also likely to go through a CD,along with a complaint,sent by the BJP on March 19,wherein the party had alleged that Congress minority cell chief Imran Kidwai had made inflammatory speeches. Kidwai went to the extent of saying that he regretted not being a Mufti which would have enabled him to issue a fatwa to Muslims not to go with the BJP,for going with the BJP would amount to committing kufr Kufr is defined as that which covers the truth,infidelity,blasphemy,disbelieving in the Quran or in any tenets of the Muslim religion. A person practicing kufr is a Kafir, BJP spokesperson Balbir Punj had charged at a press conference.