Samajwadi Party asks EC to lift ban on Azam Khan

"We want the EC to reconsider its decision on Amit Shah. We also appeal to the EC to lift the ban on Azam Khan," said SP leader Rajendra Chaudhary.

Meanwhile, SP leader Naresh Agrawal alleged that the EC works under the directives of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

"The ban has been lifted on Modi aide Amit Shah. But the ban remains on Azam Khan. The double standards of the EC is clear. Seems it works under the pressure of the BJP and Modi. We condemn the EC's move," Agrawal said.

The EC on Thursday lifted ban on Shah on campaigning in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh.

"This came after Shah told the commission that he will not use derogatory or abusive language in poll campaigns," The Hindustan Times reported.

BJP's Uttar Pradesh in-charge Amit Shah had earlier urged people to take their revenge by voting for his party in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Addressing a rally at a riot-hit Jat village near Muzaffarnagar, Shah said, "If you want to take revenge, vote for the BJP."

"In today's time you can't take revenge with swords and arrows like it was done in the Mughat era. But today the people are constantly being denied justice ... they are not getting their rights. So, you press the right button (on the Electronic Voting Machine) and show people their right place," he said.

The EC had banned him from  holding public rallies and road shows Uttar Pradesh.

The EC banned Azam Khan from holding rallies after he created a controversy by saying it was Muslim soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country in the Kargil War.

"The soldiers who brought victory in Kargil were not Hindu but Muslim soldiers. It was our Muslim brothers who conquered the peaks of Kargil mountains," he had said addressing a rally in Uttar Pradesh.