Times of India
 
NEW DELHI, Apr 5: The Election Commission on Sunday issued a notice to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram for violating the model code of conduct.

The Election Commission has sought reply from home minister P Chidambaram for reportedly offering poll sops during a visit to Rajasthan for a security review.

The notice was issued following a complaint filed by the BJP which alleged that Chidambaram, during his visit to the state in the last week of March, had taken up electoral issues.

The complaint said the Home Minister talked about granting citizenship to displaced Hindus from Pakistan and additional facilities for passengers travelling by 'Thar Express'.

The three-member Commission, headed by N Gopalaswami, asked Chidambaram to reply to the notice by tomorrow by 5 pm.

PTI reported that the Commission on Sunday also strongly disapproved of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's remarks against a UP district magistrate and advised Yadav to be "more cautious" and exercise "restraint" in the future while noting that his reply to its notice was not satisfactory.

The panel's notice to Yadav followed his remarks against District Magistrate Ministry Dileep, who had cancelled certain arms licences in Mainpuri from where he is contesting the Lok Sabha polls.

An angry Yadav had during a public meeting warned that he would register a complaint with the EC against the district magistrate whom he accused of losing her sense of proportion and not being able to differentiate between a criminal and a common man. He had also suggested that she should get her "head checked" and asked her to mend ways, PTI reported.