In a major blow to BJP's Kapil Mishra, the Election Commission on Saturday imposed a 48-hour ban on him from campaigning for the Assembly elections in Delhi. Mishra is a candidate from Model Town constituency where he faces AAP MLA Akhileshpati Tripathi.
The ban order, signed by the Chef Election Commissioner and two fellow Election Commissioners, would come into force from 5 pm on Saturday. The poll panel's action follows a controversial tweet of Mishra who had likened the February 8 elections in the national capital to a contest between India and Pakistan.
On Friday, the EC had directed the Delhi police to file an FIR against the former AAP leader and urged the micro-blogging site to remove his tweet. Twitter, subsequently, took down one of his tweets. Later, an FIR was lodged against him under section 125 of the Representation of the People Act dealing with creating enmity among classes.
Mishra had tweeted on Thursday: "India vs Pakistan 8th February Delhi. There will be a contest on Delhi Roads between India and Pakistan on February 8.” Referring to the anti-CAA protests, he further said, "Pakistan has already entered Shaheen Bagh and small pockets of Pakistan are being created in Delhi."
The Delhi election will be a triangular fight involving the Aam Aadmi Party, Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress.
Polling will be held on February 8 and the results declared on February 11. Nominations of nearly 700 candidates for the Delhi elections were found to be valid by poll authorities after scrutiny, officials said on Thursday.
According to the final electoral roll, over 1.46 crore people are eligible to exercise their franchise.
With inputs from PTI
