Mehbooba Mufti, the head of the PDP, was handed a show-cause notice on Sunday, requesting an explanation for allegedly employing a kid to solicit votes during her campaign for the Lok Sabha elections in the Rajouri district. Rajouri is a part of the Anantnag parliamentary constituency, which will hold elections on May 25 for the sixth phase.
Mehbooba, a former chief minister of J&K, is one of the twenty contenders for the seat. Mehbooba received a show-cause notice from Rajouri, the additional district magistrate, and Rajeev Kumar Khajuria, the district’s nodal officer for the Model Code of Conduct, in relation to an electoral rally she organized on May 1.
Khajuria wrote to Mehbooba, citing a video that went viral on social media showing a minor female child being used by you for a political campaign and an appeal to the public to vote for you (PDP) on election day, as well as the same child being encouraged and appreciated by you after her appeal was successful.
The officer asked the PDP leader to explain her stance within 24 hours as to why an action under the provisions of ECI norms and guidelines should not be initiated or recommended against her for violating MCC, citing the guidelines of the Election Commission and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
The letter threatened Mehbooba that if she did not reply, she would be arrested and prohibited from holding public gatherings and rallies in Rajouri for the duration of the general election.