Varun replies to Election Commission

The debutant BJP candidate from Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh, Varun Gandhi, who came to the Election Commission office accompanied by his lawyers, filed a reply on Friday morning to the EC’s notice on hate spilling speeches.

The reply was filed by his lawyers at around 10:30 am today before the three-member Election Commission. They refused to divulge any details of the reply to the reporters waiting outside the EC office. Poll panel officials said they would study the reply before making any comment.

Chief Election Commission N Gopalaswami had asked Varun Gandhi, the son of the late Sanjay Gandhi and Maneka Gandhi, to prove the CDs containing the inflammatory communal speeches was tampered with. The 48-hour deadline to reply the notice had come to an end at 11 am today.

“We have seen the videos. It is for Varun to prove that it has been tampered with. The question of disqualification arises only when nomination starts,” Gopalaswami had said.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to completely disown the speeches of the young leader. It will also reportedly ask the EC to deal with the Varun case as an individual and not to include the party on this issue because the public meeting where speeches were made was not a party function as the BJP has still not given its election symbol to Varun Gandhi.

Earlier in the day, the UP officials accompanied by a team from Delhi Police visited the residence of Varun Gandhi in Delhi and handed over a copy of the CD containing his hate speech in Pilibhit.

The 29-year-old Gandhi, who looked aggressive against the minority community in his tone while making the speech at his Pilibhit constituency in Uttar Pradesh, despite finding surrounded over the matter looked defiant, saying the tape was doctored and the voice on it was doctored.

A day later following the matter got heated, however, an unfazed Varun in his modifying tone said he was a “Gandhi, a Hindu and an Indian” against the derogatory remarks he made in Pilibhit.

Varun Gandhi has been charged under Section 125 of the IPC for defying Representation of the People Act, Section 153 (A) for making inflammatory statements with communal overtones, and Section 188 for disobeying the order of public servants.

Varun is also charged with promoting enmity which is punishable by 3 years imprisonment. He also got into another controversy as two cases have been filed against him for distributing money in Pilibhit.