EC bars Pragya Thakur from campaigning for 72 hours for Karkare, Babri remarks

New Delhi: The Election Commission Wednesday barred BJP candidate from Bhopal Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur from campaigning for 72 hours for her remarks on former ATS chief Hemant Karkare and Babri mosque demolition.

The panel "strongly condemned" her remarks" and "warned her "not to repeat the misconduct in future". The EC said though Pragya had apologised for her statement against the slain IPS officer, it found the statement to be "unwarranted". The ban would come into force from 6.00 AM, May 2 (Thursday).

Pragya had said Karkare was killed in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack because of her "curse" as he "tortured" her when he probed the Malegaon blast case as chief of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

She also had said that she was "proud" of her participation in the demolition of the Babri mosque at Ayodhya in 1992.