The Election Commission on Thursday issued a show-cause notice to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath for his alleged 'biryani for terrorist' remarks.
The poll panel has asked him to respond to the notice before 5 pm on Friday.
The EC said that prima facie, by making such remarks the senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader has violated provisions of the Model Code of Conduct enforced for the February 8 Delhi assembly polls.
Adityanath had made this remark during a speech in New Delhi on February 1.
The notice reminded the chief minister of a provision of the poll code which asks politicians to avoid making unverified allegations and restrict their criticism to policies and programmes of rivals.
It also said no comments should be made on the private lives of political rivals during electioneering.
According to the notice, Adityanath had said that "today biryani is not being served ... the habit of feeding biryani was with the Congress in Kashmir or is with Kejriwal for Shaheen Bagh like incidents. (The habit of feeding biyrani ) is not of the BJP."
During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections the EC had "strongly condemned" Adityanath for his communal remarks and had barred him from campaigning for 72 hours.