NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Saturday imposed a 48-hour campaigning ban on BJP candidate Kapil Mishra, over a series of tweets in which he likened the February 8 Delhi Assembly elections to an ‘India-Pakistan contest’.The action came a day after an FIR was filed against the Model Town nominee on the order of Delhi’s chief electoral officer.
Formerly with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and considered close to party chief Arvind Kejriwal, Mishra switched to the saffron camp after falling out with the latter. The FIR was filed on Friday evening after Chief Electoral Officer Ranbir Singh asked the Delhi Police to register a case under Section 123 of Representation of People Act, which pertains to the conduct of elections. Earlier that day, Twitter removed his controversial posts following a direction by the Election Commission.
While saying that the party respects the decision of the poll panel, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said, “Slogans hurting Hindu sentiments are being raised at Shaheen Bagh. Voices espousing Jinnah’s ideology are also chanting death to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and (Home Minister) Amit Shah. The EC should also take note of such provocative statements and slogans.”