Malegaon Victim’s Father, Activist Seek Poll Ban on Sadhvi Pragya

Activist Tehseen Poonawalla urged the EC to debar BJP’s Bhopal candidate from contesting the Lok Sabha polls.

BJP candidate Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur reacts while addressing party workers for the Lok Sabha polls in Bhopal on 18 April.

(Photo: PTI)

Political activist Tehseen Poonawalla on Thursday, 18 April, urged the Election Commission to debar BJP's Bhopal candidate Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur from contesting the Lok Sabha polls as she was facing terror charges.

In a letter to the poll body, Poonawalla said the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) had found Thakur to be the "principal conspirator" in the 2008 Malegaon blast in which six people were killed, reported PTI.

Her name has also cropped up in the Ajmer Dargah blast case, he said.

“I would humbly request the Election Commission of India to take further necessary steps to uphold the Model Code of Conduct 2019 and take appropriate action against Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and debar her from contesting elections.”

Tehseen Poonawalla, in his letter to the EC, as quoted by PTI

Moreover, the father of one of the victims of the 2008 Malegaon blast also moved the special NIA court in Mumbai on Thursday, urging it to bar Sadhvi Pragya from contesting the general election.

The application was filed by Nisar Sayeed, who lost his son in the blast, PTI reported.

Special National Investigation Agency cases judge VS Padalkar sought replies from both the NIA and Thakur and posted the matter for Monday.

Meanwhile, in an address to the party workers, the BJP candidate from the Bhopal constituency broke down, while claiming that she was tortured by jail officials in the past.

(With inputs from PTI and ANI.)