The Chief Electoral Officer of Tripura on Thursday issued notices to the state units of the Congress and the BJP as well as BJP national general secretary Dilip Saikia for seeking votes on social media platform Twitter, even as polling was underway in the state, reported PTI. Voting for the 60-member Assembly began at 7 AM today.
The Election Commission said that the tweets were written in the 48-hour “silence period”, which began on Tuesday evening.
They have been asked by EC to take “corrective action” at the earliest, and were also asked to explain their stands for the violation by 5 PM Friday.
In its notice to Saikia, the Tripura CEO said, ” … an appeal for vote in favour of BJP has been tweeted from your handle at 0950 hours on 16.02.2023. The tweet is in form of a photo containing following message: Unnato Tripura Sreshtho Tripura Vote for BJP.”
It said the tweet violates section 126 (l)(b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which prohibits display to the public any election matter by means of cinematograph, television or other similar apparatus in polling area during the period of 48 hours ending with the hour fixed for the conclusion of the poll for any election in that polling area.
The EC said that a tweet from the BJP handle at 8 AM on Thursday appealed for voter for the saffron party candidate. “The tweet followed by a video clip is as under: For a safe and brighter future, vote for BJP”, it said.
Meanwhile, notice to the Tripura Congress noted that an appeal for votes in favour of INC (Indian National Congress) was tweeted from Tripura Congress’ handle at 11.42 am on Thursday. “The tweet is as under: People of Tripura spontaneously casting vote for Congress. This time Congress will come,” the notice said.
Meanwhile, a total of 69.96 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 3 PM for the Tripura elections. The polling is scheduled to end at 4 AM, however, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Gitte Kirankumar Dinakarrao said that it could stretch as voters are expected to turn up at the poll booths at the end of the day.
It will be a challenge to complete the process by 4 pm as we expect a huge turnout at the end of the day,” he added.
(With PTI inputs)