 In February 2012, during the Uttar Pradesh elections Verma dared EC to arrest him, saying quota for Muslims will be hiked.Verma said this while addressing a rally at Kaimganj in the presence of Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh and Union law and minority affairs minister Salman Khurshid.Earlier, Khurshid created a controversy by stating that he would continue to speak on nine percent sub-quota for Muslims even if the Election Commission says it's against the guideline to promise such a thing during the elections.