EC imposes 48-hour ban on Kapil Mishra’s campaign over ‘Pakistan’ tweet
The Election Commission of India (EC) on Saturday imposed a 48-hour ban on campaigning against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s candidate from Model Town assembly constituency Kapil Mishra, following a string of controversial tweets posted by him, officials in the election body said.
According to officials, condemning the statements made by the BJP candidate on January 22- 23, the EC has barred Mishra from campaigning for 48 hours.
“The ban that comes into effect from 5 pm (on Saturday) bars Mishra from holding any public meetings, procession, rallies, and roadshows, as well as interviews or public utterances in media (electronic, print and social media) or any such event related to the February 8 Delhi Assembly elections,” stated the EC’s order signed by the Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora.
On Friday, the police had registered a case against Mishra under Section 125 of the Representation of People Act. The move came after the state election office wrote to them to lodge an FIR against his remarks posted on twitter.
Terming them “highly objectionable”, the EC had asked Twitter to take down Mishra’s post. Following this, the tweet was taken down on Saturday.
On Thursday, Mishra was issued a notice over his tweets. The state election office took exception to this and told the Delhi Police to lodge the FIR.
A senior official in the state election office said, “We have a social media monitoring team, which is tracking Mishra’s account. We are also monitoring his movements.”
Kapil Mishra, a former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) member, in his response to the notice, had said his tweet had been taken out of context and that he was expressing his “general opinion”.
However, when asked, Mishra said he would abide by the instructions of the EC until the ban is lifted. “I will abide by the ban,” he said, adding, “These notice and action against just show the fear among rival parties, who are losing the election on the ground. They just want to take this fight to police stations and on paper.”