Amit Shah's petition challenging FIRs dismissed as withdrawn

The Allahabad high court on Thursday dismissed as withdrawn Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Shah's petition challenging the first information reports lodged against him in Uttar Pradesh for alleged hate speeches after he stated that he wanted to reply to the Election Commission notice in the matter.

A division bench comprising justices Arun Tandon and Satish Chandra held that the petition stood "dismissed as withdrawn following the application moved by the applicant in this regard".

It was submitted before the court by Shah's counsel and senior BJP leader Keshri Nath Tripathi that the petitioner wished to withdraw the petition as "he wants to reply to the EC notice issued in the matter before seeking legal remedy".

The move came a day after the court had summoned CDs of video footages of the alleged hate speeches made by the BJP leader.

Shah had challenged the FIRs lodged at Bijnore and Shamli under relevant sections of the IPC and the Representation of People Act wherein he had been accused of delivering hate speeches while exhorting members of the Jat community to take "revenge" for the Muzaffarnagar communal riots by voting for the BJP.

In his petition Shah, who is the party's national general secretary in-charge of UP and a close aide of Narendra Modi, had sought a stay on his arrest and quashing of the two FIRs lodged in the two districts.