EC issues notice to Mulayam

The Election Commission on Friday issued a notice to the Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav for allegedly threatening ad hoc teachers in government schools of Uttar Pradesh that they would not be made permanent employees unless they vote for his party.

In its notice, the EC said it prima facie viewed his remarks as violation of the poll code and it had received reports as well as the video footage of the rally.

Addressing an election rally on April 3 in Bulandshahr, Yadav said the Samajwadi Party government in the state had addressed the grievances of the shiksha mitras (government primary school teachers on contract). “Haven’t we done this? ...So, if we have done this, vote for us. If you do not vote, we will withdraw,” he said, apparently sending out a message to the shiksha mitras that the UP government might drop its plan to regularise the employment of the ad hoc teaching employees if they did not vote for the party’s candidates in the parliamentary polls.

The Uttar Pradesh government on February 14 last decided to regularise the employment of nearly two lakh shiksha mitras without requiring them to appear for the Teacher Eligibility Test. The decision was perceived to be one of the many initiatives by UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Singh to brighten its prospects in the parliamentary elections.