The Election Commission (EC) on Sunday issued a showcause notice to BJP candidate from Bhopal Sadhvi Pragya Thakur for her controversial remarks about the Babri Masjid demolition, hours after she was censured for her remarks on 26/11 martyr Hemant Karkare.

She has been asked to reply by Monday. However, Pragya has sought time from District Election Officer to submit her reply on Babri Masjid.

In her reply on Karkare, Pragya on Sunday said, “I didn’t say any defamatory word about the martyrdom of any martyr in my speech... I just made a mention of torture I was subjected to at the instance of the then Congress Government and this is my right to narrate the incident before public. I myself withdrew the statement in view of public sentiments.

Thakur was served the notice by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO-MP) for her remarks on the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition.

In an interview to a TV channel, she had claimed that she was among those who had razed the disputed structure, which “was a blot on the country”.

Thakur had earlier faced flak for claiming that former chief of Mumbai’s Anti-Terrorist Squad Hemant Karkare, who had died in action during the 26/11 terror attacks, lost his life because she had “cursed him”.

Addressing party workers in Bhopal, Thakur broke down while narrating the alleged custodial torture inflicted on her after she was arrested in connection with 2008 blast case, in which six persons had died and over 100 were injured.

She came down heavily on the late ATS chief, who was awarded the Ashok Chakra for his bravery in facing the Mumbai terror attack, and alleged that she was tortured and abused by him in ways that were “unbearable”.

Thakur claimed he used to endlessly haunt her with his daunting questions, to which she had no answers as she was “innocent all along”. She said she cursed Karkare for the alleged threats, torture and miserable treatment in custody. “Maine kaha that tera sarvanash hoga (I cursed him that he would be finished),” she said.

Referring to sutak, an auspicious period of one month and a half according to Hindu tradition which starts after death or birth of anyone in family, she said that the holy period started on the day she landed in jail and ended the day Karkare was slain by terrorists. “Inauspicious period started for Hemant Karkare when I was arrested. Exactly 45 days later he was killed and that was the end of the inauspicious period,” she said.