By IANS,
New Delhi : Varun Gandhi, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh, Friday filed a reply to the notice he had received from the Election Commission for his alleged communally inflammatory campaign speeches.
The reply was filed around 10.30 a.m. at the Election Commission office here by the secretary of Varun Gandhi, the son of the late Sanjay Gandhi and Maneka Gandhi and grandson of assassinated prime minister Indira Gandhi.
The secretary declined to tell waiting reporters the contents of the reply. Poll panel officials said they would study the reply before making any comment.
The ‘other’ Gandhi has been in the eye of a storm since the emergence of a CD showing him making a number of communally inflammatory speeches. Even his own party, the BJP, has distanced itself from him, while the Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist have asked that his nomination be withdrawn.
In the wake of the controversy, Varun Gandhi faces a number of criminal cases as well, and has applied for anticipatory bail. The bail application is scheduled to be heard by the Delhi High Court later Friday.