EC raps Congress, BJP for campaign on Twitter during polling in Tripura

EC raps Congress, BJP for campaign on Twitter during polling in Tripura

Subject :Polity

Section : Elections

Concept :

• The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Tripura on Thursday issued notices to the State units of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well as BJP national general secretary DilipSaikia for seeking votes on Twitter when polling was under way in the northeastern State.
• The Election Commission (EC) said the tweets are violative of election law as they were posted in the 48­ hour “silence period”.

Silence Period

• Election silence is observed for a period of 48 hours until the conclusion of the polling, as per Section 126 of the Representation of People Act, 1951.
• The ‘Silence Period’ is basically a ban imposed by the ECI which prevents political parties from engaging in election campaigning prior to voting.

Section 126 (l)(b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951

• It prohibits display to the public any election matter by means of cinematograph, television or other similar apparatus in the 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.