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The Uttar Pradesh Police on Tuesday booked Congress leader Salman Khurshid and his niece Maria Alam after she called for a "vote jehad" in favour of the INDIA bloc candidate Naval Kishore Shakya from the Farrukhabad Lok Sabha seat.
Seeking votes for Mr. Shakya on Monday, Ms. Alam, a Samajwadi Party (SP) leader, made an appeal for "vote jehad", terming it as necessary in the current situation for the minority community to drive away the BJP government.
Taking cognisance of her remarks, a case was registered against Ms. Alam for violating the provisions of the IPC and Representation of People Act, following a complaint made by the Flying Squad and Surveillance Team, police said, and added that a case was also registered against Mr. Khurshid, who was the chief guest at the election meeting in Kaimganj.
"A case was registered against Maria Alam and Salman Khurshid on the basis of a complaint made by the Flying Squad and Surveillance Team. The case was registered under Sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the IPC and Section 125 (promoting enmity between classes in connection with election) of the Representation of People Act," the Station House Officer of the Kaimganj Police Station, Ramautar, on Tuesday told PTI.
"Together, do vote jehad — with intelligence, without being sentimental, and with silence. As we can only do vote jehad to drive away this Sanghi government," Ms. Alam said while addressing an election meeting. Stressing that it was time to join hands, she added that otherwise this "Sanghi government will succeed in wiping out our existence".
"People say that Constitution and democracy are under threat. But I say that insaniyat (humanity) is under threat. Now there is an attack on insaniyat. If you want to save the country, its beauty and 'ganga-jamuni' (composite) culture, then vote very intelligently without getting influenced by anyone," she said.
The video of Ms. Alam's statement has also gone viral on social media.
Asked to comment on the statement by his niece, Mr. Khurshid said he generally avoids using such words because its literal meaning is misinterpreted. "Jehad means to fight against a situation. Her intention must have been to carry out vote jehad to protect the Constitution," he said.
On his candidature from the Farrukhabad seat for the INDIA bloc, Mr. Khurshid said he was offered a Congress ticket from Aligarh. But he had politely declined saying, "I am Salman Khurshid from Farrukhabad and I stay that only."
This was the first public meeting of the INDIA bloc in Farrukhabad, with most of the senior leaders of the Congress and the SP present together on the dais.
