ECI imposes 48-hour campaigning ban on Kapil Mishra

The ban would come into force from 5 p.m. on Saturday, they said.

Kapil Mishra. File

The Election Commission on Saturday imposed a 48-hour-long ban on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Model Town candidate Kapil Mishra restricting him from campaigning for the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections over his recent controversial tweets in relation to the ongoing protests at Shaheen Bagh.

The ban order, approved by the Chief Election Commissioner and two fellow Election Commissioners, came into force from 5 p.m. on Saturday, according to EC officials. The order referred to Mr. Mishra’s tweets of January 22 and 23 and comes a day after the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Delhi wrote to the police asking it to register a criminal case against the suspended Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator.

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Delhi mein chote chote Pakistan bane (A number of mini Pakistans have been created in Delhi)”, “Shaheen Bagh mein Pakistan ki entry”, “India Vs Pakistan February 8 Delhi” and a tweet in which he had alleged, in Hindi, that just like the AAP and Congress had created “mini Pakistans” in Shaheen Bagh “India would stand up” to teach them a lesson on February 8, the day that the city goes to the polls were among the tweets referred to in the EC's order.

While Twitter had taken down one of his controversial tweets on Friday following the directions of the EC, an FIR was lodged against him under section 125 of the Representation of the People Act dealing with creating enmity among classes. The order said the poll panel was not satisfied with Mishra’s reply to the show cause notice issued to him.

“Now, therefore, the Commission hereby condemns the statements made by Sh. Kapil Mishra through the aforesaid tweets on 22 and 23 January 2020. The Commission, under Article 324 of the Constitution of India...bars Sh. Kapil Mishra from holding any public meetings, public processions, public rallies, road shows and interviews, public utterances in media...in connection with ongoing general election...for a period of 48 hours...” the order read.

Mr. Mishra, on his part, took to Twitter to react to the development stating, “Keep quiet. Quiet when you see buses burning, quiet when you see the police being assaulted, quiet when you hear slogans of ‘Azadi’. Quiet when you see politicians licking the heels of the Tukde Tukde gang because of vote bank politics. They will stand with Shaheen Bagh but you must remain quiet. Quiet when you see the occupation of streets. Completely quiet.”