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The Election Commission had issued a showcause notice to Verma finding his remarks on minorities sub-quota as "prima facie" violation of model code, after the minister dared the poll body to take action against him in Farrukhabad last week.
The minister's reply is likely to be taken up by the Election Commission at its full house meeting on Tuesday, which will be attended by Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi and both the Election Commissioners VS Sampath and HS Brahma.
Verma in his written reply, sent in a sealed cover ahead of its 5 pm deadline, is understood to have said that he was not guilty of poll code violation and that his remarks were made while spelling out the party manifesto as a Congress leader and not as a minister, sources close to him said.
The Commission, after examining the video recordings of Verma's speech at a rally in Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh, had said it "is prima facie satisfied" that the steel minister, "by making the aforesaid statements, has violated the aforesaid provisions of the model code of conduct".
While addressing a poll rally on Wednesday night in presence of Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh and Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid, Beni had said, "Reservation for Muslims will be increased and if the EC wants, it can now issue a notice to me."
Beni was the second Union minister after Khurshid to land in trouble with the Election Commission over remarks on the issue of sub-quota for minorities.
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