Narendra Modi denied permission to rally in Varanasi; top BJP leaders protest against EC

Varanasi: Top BJP leaders including Arun Jaitley held protests against the Election Commission and the Returning Officer on Thursday who had denied permission to Narendra Modi for holding a public meeting at a venue of his choice.

Along with Amit Shah and Ananth Kumar, Jaitley sat on dharna at the gate of the Banaras Hindu University attacking the alleged partisan attitude of Returning Officer Pranjal Yadav and demanded his removal.

Chaos prevailed in the area with a huge crowd of party supporters gathered there adding to the mess in the area contributed by the presence of a hospital and a market.

Even before the top BJP leaders arrived for dharna, party workers and local leaders had begun protesting from early in the morning, disrupting the traffic.

Rapid Action Force and police personnel were deployed in large numbers at the protest venue, while media was also present in large numbers. The protestors were shouting slogans for removal of District Magistrate Pranjal Yadav, who is also serving as returning officer for Lok Sabha polls scheduled for May 12.

Modi was denied permission for holding a public meeting at a venue of its choice here following which the party announced protests while cancelling all his programmes on Thursday.

The party demanded immediate removal of Varanasi Returning Officer and District Magistrate Pranjal Yadav who late in the night said he has given the nod to four of the five events for which BJP sought permission. The party, however, had rejected the gesture saying it came too late in the day.

As per schedule, Modi will arrive at BHU helipad in a helicopter before proceeding towards his central election office here.

Late last night, senior party leader Amit Shah had accused the returning officer of "playing politics" over the matter and granting approval late intentionally.

The approval came at around 10 PM after a whole day of high drama when BJP wrote four letters to the EC and the returning officer, while it said in the last letter that it did not want permissions now as there was no time left for preparations.

Shah said that such a late approval shows that the returning officer was working at the "behest" of someone else, because Jaitley had clearly written to him and to the EC at 8 PM that there was no time left for the rally now and therefore BJP didn't need the permission anymore.

"This is a big joke with the people of Varanasi that BJP candidate from here and its Prime Ministerial nominee was not being given permission to hold a rally," he said.

The administration claims that it was denying permission due to security concerns. The reaction came after a late night approval for all four programmes of Modi, including a public rally at a small ground, Ganga arti and a meeting with eminent citizens of the city, after a rally in nearby Rohaniya.

Approval was, however, not given for the rally in Muslim-dominated Beniabagh area. While Rohaniya rally had got nod earlier, the other programmes had run into problems after which BJP had decided to cancel them. Modi will now drive through the city with his motorcade after addressing a rally in nearby Rohaniya area this afternoon.

Modi was scheduled to participate in several election related programmes tomorrow here, including public rallies in Beniabagh area here after his Rohaniya rally. Thereafter, he was to attend Ganga Arti - a daily ritual here in the evenings on Ganga ghats -- while he was also to meet about 100-150 prominent citizens of the city in the night at a hotel in the city.

From BHU, now Modi and his motorcade would drive through the city to go to his central election office here in the Sigra locality, after which he would leave for the airport.

Beniabagh is a crowded area in the heart of the city, while Rohania is a rural assembly constituency outside the main Varanasi city but within the Lok Sabha constituency. Both areas assume significance because of significant population of Muslim community. Earlier, Modi had said that Muslims would love him once he comes to Varanasi.

Meanwhile, The Delhi Police imposed prohibitory orders around the Election Commission complex as BJP workers sought to hold a protest.

Section 144 of the CrPC restricting gathering of people was imposed as BJP activists were stopped around the nearby All India Radio building and prevented from going towards the Commission.

Meanwhile, a delegation of party leaders led by M Venkaiah Naidu and Ravi Shankar Prasad met officials of the Election Commission. Naidu said that EC had called party leaders for a meeting over the refusal of Modi's rally.

"We have not come to protest here against EC, but the electoral officer of Varansai. We are going to meet EC's officials. In the meeting, we would request the EC to remove him so that fair elections would be done there," Naidu told reporters here before going into the meeting.