The Election Commission on Monday “strongly condemned” Union Minister Maneka Gandhi for her “ABCD” remark in Sultanpur where she warned voters that government work suffers in areas which do not vote for her. The commission also warned her not to repeat “such misconduct in future”.
The EC order said Maneka not only violated provisions of the model code, but also the Representation of the People Act dealing with “corrupt practice”.
Addressing a poll meeting in Sarkoda village in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh on April 14, Maneka had said, “We win in Pilibhit every time, so what is the parameter that we work more for one village and less for the other?”
“The parameter is that we segregate all villages as A, B, C, and D. The village where we get 80 per cent votes is A, the village in which we get 60 per cent is B, the village in which we get 50 per cent is kept in C category and the village where we get less than 50 per cent is marked as D.”
She said the development work first happens in all A category villages. Then comes B and only after work in B is done, we start with C, the minister had said.
On April 15, the poll panel had reprimanded her and barred her from holding campaigning for 48 hours for her communal remarks.