A video of BJP leader Maneka Gandhi has surfaced in which she is heard telling a public meeting that she used to grade villages in her former constituency Pilibhit according to votes she got there and farm out development work following that grading.

This website has not been able to ascertain the authenticity of the video but is putting out portions of the speech as it shows how brazenly she has equated welfare work to voter preference. From Maneka Gandhi's Twitter handle it is clear that she was campaigning today in Sultanpur, which votes on May 12.

“Pilibhit mein, kyunki hum har dafa jeet te hain, toh kya maapdand hai? Ki hum ek gaon ke liye zyada karte hain, aur ek gaon ke liye kam. Aur maapdand hum ne yeh rakha ki hum har gaon me ek A, B, C, D karte hain (we always won in Pilibhit. So what is the parameter? That we work more for one village and less for another. We divide villages as A, B, C, and D),” Maneka said.

She explained that villages where her party received 80 per cent votes were graded as A, those that gave her 60 per cent were B, 50 per cent C and where she received less than 50 per cent votes were in Grade D. Development work then follows the same gradation, first it happens in A-category villages, then in B after it gets completed in A and so on.

“So, this is up to you. Whether you make it to A, B or C and no one should come in D because we all have come here to do good,” Maneka told the .

On April 11, Maneka was heard telling Muslim voters at a public meeting in Sultanpur that if she wins without their vote then 'dil khatta ho jata hai (there will be some bitterness)'. Then she went on to say that if Muslims did not vote for her, they face difficulty when they need her help.

The Election Commission has sent her a notice for making this statement.