EC bans SMS by candidates 48 hrs before polls

In a move to track down messages during campaigning, Election Commission (EC) today banned, for the first time, the use of SMS by candidates 48 hours before polling for the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assemblies.

"The innovativeness of human mind is endless," Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami said adding this was for the first time the EC took up such an exercise.

The imposition of the ban was announced after a meeting of the three-member Commission with the poll observers here.

Gopalaswami said the Commission had two rounds of meeting with service providers, and the move was aimed at tracking down the source of any mischievous SMS. "There will be no bulk SMS campaign 48 hours before the polling," Gopalaswami said.

The service providers also assured the Commission that they would be able to track down any such SMS within 30 minutes of getting information from the EC.

The two-phase polling in Gujarat would be held on December 11 and 16 while the second and last round of polling in Himachal Pradesh is scheduled for December 19.