New Delhi: Delhi Police Friday lodged an FIR against BJP’s Model Town candidate Kapil Mishra over his controversial tweet in which he likened the upcoming Assembly elections to an India versus Pakistan contest, sources in the city poll panel said.
The FIR was filed following directions of the poll authorities, they said.
It was lodged at the Model Town Police Station under Section 125 (promoting enmity between classes in connection with election) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the sources said.
Twitter, meanwhile, said it has “withheld” the controversial tweet following the directions of the Election Commission. The tweet was, however, not removed and could be seen on the platform.
“This Tweet from @KapilMishra_IND has been withheld in India in response to a legal demand,” Twitter wrote above the tweet that still appeared on Mishra’s twitter handle.
Earlier in the day, the Election Commission had asked Twitter to ‘take appropriate action’ as the controversial tweet aroused communal sentiments. The EC had also said that Twitter should intimate it about the action taken.
Mishra said, “I have not deleted my tweet”.
A show cause notice was also issued to Mishra by the Delhi poll authorities for “violation of the model code of conduct and the Representation of the People Act,” officials said earlier.
In his tweet Thursday, Mishra, a former minister in the Arvind Kejriwal Cabinet, had likened the February 8 Delhi election to a contest between India and Pakistan, sparking a controversy.
However, Mishra on Friday, despite the show cause notice slapped on him, remained defiant and claimed that his remarks were ‘general opinion’ and ‘do not fall under the ambit of the model code of conduct and the Representation of the People Act’.
“An FIR has been lodged by the Delhi Police against Kapil Mishra following directions from the returning officer (RO) in connection with his controversial tweet,” a source in the Delhi CEO Office told PTI.
The Delhi Police also said on Friday that it has filed a case against Mishra.
“On the complaint of Returning Officer AC-18 Model Town, a case under Section 125 of the Representation of the People Act has been registered at Model Town police station,” a senior police officer said.
The Election Commission’s action to ask Twitter to take down the tweet came after the office of the Delhi Chief Electoral officer wrote to the EC Thursday night on the issue.
Delhi CEO Ranbir Singh earlier said, “We took cognisance of the tweet and wrote to the EC last night seeking its removal. The EC then asked Twitter to remove his tweet. The tweet is a violation of the model code of conduct and the Representation of the People Act, so we have taken action.”
In its criticism of the opposition parties over their protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), the BJP has been accusing them of speaking ‘Pakistan’s language’.
Mishra, in his response to the show cause notice, also said “my comments have been taken out of context and misrepresented intentionally to paint a one-sided picture, to stoke differences. I swear by the Constitution of India and abide by its values”.
The Model Town candidate said his statement must be seen in ‘the context of Pakistan’s attempt at sending their proxies to take undue advantage of a prevailing law and order situation in Delhi’.
Authorities at the Delhi CEO Office had earlier said social media posts are being constantly monitored to check for any provocative or inflammatory posts or tweets related to the polls being made by users.
Referring to the Shaheen Bagh protests, which have been going on for over a month now, Mishra, in his reply said those protests are ‘neither in my constituency nor my voters’ and claimed his statement ‘will have no impact’ on those people.
He appealed to the protesters to call off the stir, saying people should not fall in the trap of ‘seditious groups funded by Pakistan’.
The election will be a triangular fight involving the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress.
Polling will be held on February 8 and the results declared February 11.
In a series of tweets in Hindi on Thursday, Mishra had also lashed out at the anti-CAA protesters in Shaheen Bagh and other places in the city.
“India vs Pakistan 8th February Delhi. There will be a contest on Delhi Roads between India and Pakistan on February 8,” he tweeted.
The former AAP leader was removed as minister by Kejriwal in 2017. Last year, he was also disqualified as AAP MLA under the anti-defection law.
Mishra faces AAP MLA Akhileshpati Tripathi in the elections.
More than 600 candidate are in the fray in the high-stakes Delhi polls after withdrawal of nominations on Friday by about 30 candidates.
According to the final electoral roll, over 1.46 crore people are eligible to exercise their franchise.
PTI
