The Conservatives were today being ordered to take down an illegal posting which breached election law on the eve of tomorrow’s Northamptonshire County Council poll.
The authority confirmed the party would be told to remove a picture which showed a ballot paper for the Moulton ward with a big X marked next to the Conservative candidate, a breach of Section 66 of the Representation of the People Act 1983.
The photo was posted on the social media site Facebook as long as 10 days ago and was also on the official website of the Conservative group at Northamptonshire County Council.
It was removed at 12.50pm today, minutes after the Chronicle & Echo reported the breach to the county council.
A council spokesman spokesman said: “We have not received any complaints about this. However, we do not believe this type of activity is legal and would not encourage people to do the same.”
The picture was originally posted on Twitter via @Aufona and then retweeted by @ChronandEcho but only after initial inquiries suggested it was just within the law.
However, the tweets were later removed after the authority subsequently revealed the postings by the Conservatives were, in fact, illegal.
The Chron understands the party sought advice from two election agents on the official Tory website posting, but not the local authority itself.