Salman Khurshid, niece booked for calling for 'vote jihad against Sanghi govt'

Congress leader Salman Khurshid and his niece Maria Alam Khan, a Samajwadi Party leader, were booked on Tuesday for calling for a vote jihad while seeking support for INDIA bloc candidate from the Farrukhabad Lok Sabha constituency.

Alam made the appeal for INDIA bloc candidate Naval Kishore Shakya on Monday during a meeting in Kaimganj, terming it as necessary in the current situation for the minority community to drive away the BJP government.

"Together do vote jihad -- with intelligence, without being sentimental and with silence. As we can only do vote jihad to drive away this Sanghi government." Stressing that it was time to join hands, she said otherwise this "Sanghi government will succeed in wiping out our existence".

"People say that Constitution and democracy are under threat. But I say that insaniyat (humanity) is under threat.

"Now there is an attack on 'insaniyat'. If you want to save the country, its beauty and 'ganga-jamuni' (composite) culture, then vote very intelligently without getting influenced by anyone," she stressed.

The video of Alam's remarks had also gone viral on social media.

Following this, a case was registered against her for violating the provisions of the IPC and Representation of People Act following a complaint made by the Flying Squad and Surveillance Team, police said, according to PTI news agency,

A case was also registered against Khurshid as he was the chief guest at the election meeting.

Khurshid later clarified saying that he generally avoids using such words because their literal meaning is misinterpreted.

"Jihad means to fight against a situation. Her intention must have been to carry out vote jihad to protect the Constitution," he said.