Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, a Muslim organisation, has issued an election directive asking Muslims to vote for SP, BSP and RLD gathbandhan in Western Uttar Pradesh.

Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has backed all the eight candidates of the gathbandhan in Uttar Pradesh. The organisation had campaigned for the gathbandhan’s candidates as well.

The BJP has opposed the political stand of the organisation. BJP’s Sanjeev Baliyan has stated that the organisation is asking votes in the name of religion and it should be restricted from doing so.

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Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) is an Islamic organisation in India with around 10,000 members and 500,000 sympathisers among India’s 130 million Muslim population. It was founded as an offshoot of the Jamaat-e-Islami, which split into separate independent organisations in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Jammu & Kashmir following the Partition of India in 1947.

Following the ghastly terror attack in Pulwama on February 28, the Government of India had banned Jamaat-e-Islami.

Meanwhile, similar kind of open polarisation of votes was seen even a few days earlier when Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Supremo Mayawati had openly appealed for consolidation of Muslims votes.

While addressing a rally in Deoband in Saharanpur, Mayawati gave a polarising speech asking Muslims not to split their vote between Congress and SP-BSP-RLD alliance and rather consolidate their vote in favour of the alliance candidate.

“Muslim samaj ke logo ko mai ye batana chahti hu, aap logo ko apna vote batna nahi hai. Aap logo ko apna vote Samajwadi Party aur RLD k ummeedvaro ko dekar unke kamyab banana hai (I want to say this to the people of Muslim community that you should not spilt your vote. You should consolidate your vote in the favour of the candidates of SP and RLD and make them win)”, said Mayawati.

However, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) had taken cognisance of Mayawati’s speech and sought a factual report from the Saharanpur administration.

“Seeking votes on the basis of religion or caste is a violation of the Model Code of Conduct, and the matter will be probed by the Election Commission (EC),” an election official had said.