If you can't ensure security, don't hold polls, Arun Jaitley tells EC

He said the DM's action is absolutely wrong and he needs to be transferred by the EC but instead it is defending the indefensible.

“So what is the issue? The issue is you can't have different yardsticks for different states and you can't soft pedal Uttar Pradesh....The way the Commission is going is as if it has surrendered before the state government. This should not have happened,” he said.

Javadekar said it was futile to give the party permission at “10'O clock in the night for a rally which needs at least 24 hours.”

He asked if the poll panel could be strict with West Bengal and transfer officers, why could it not do so in Uttar Pradesh.

“You made Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal Chief Minister) accept the EC verdict and made the DM go on transfer and here you are not doing your work.

Why?,” Javadekar said.  Jaitley also enumerated the sequence of events and called them the “falsehoods” of the Varanasi Returning Officer.