Himanta Biswa Sarma is the BJP’s polling strategist for the ongoing Assam Assembly elections (Archive)
Guwahati:
Assam’s Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who last night received a 48-hour ban on campaigning ahead of the third phase of Tuesday’s Assembly elections, has not defied the order of the Election Commission in the Gauhati High Court, sources close to the senior BJP leader said Saturday afternoon.
Sources told NDTV that Sarma had accepted the order from the main electoral body and that media reports indicating that he had filed an appeal in the Gauhati High Court were false. Sarma would not move the Superior Court, or any other court, against the orders of the Electoral Commission, the sources said.
Previous reports had suggested that Sarma would, in fact, transfer the Gauhati High Court and that a hearing on this matter could be held today.
On Friday night, the electoral body issued its order after it confirmed a congressional complaint; the party said Sarma openly threatened to send Hagrama Mohilary, whose Bodoland Popular Front is a member of the opposition alliance, to jail for abusing the National Investigation Agency.
The ban period effectively meant that Sarma, who is the BJP’s top polling strategist and has been billed as a ‘star activist’, could no longer campaign in this Assembly election.
Congressional spokesman Randeep Surjewala welcomed the ban, saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Interior Minister Amit Shah, and BJP chief JP Nadda should likewise be excluded.
“EC banning Himanta Sarma for 48 hours shows BJP has lost polls … is resorting to tactics to influence polls … it should also ban Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Sarbananda Sonowal and JP Nadda who appeared in advertisements in Assam newspapers, for free and fair elections, “he told the ANI news agency.
On Thursday, the electoral body had issued a show of cause notice to Mr. Sarma, to which he responded on Friday. Unfortunately for him, the explanation was deemed “unsatisfactory”.
Mohilary was once an ally of the BJP, but passed into Congress after the BJP joined the United Liberal People’s Party (UPPL) to form the Bodoland Territorial Council in December.
The election for the 126-member Assam Assembly has been divided into three phases with 77.2 percent of the electorate exercising their right to vote in 39 constituencies in the second phase on April 1. In the first phase on March 27, about 76 percent of voters in 30 constituencies cast their vote.
The third and final phase will take place on April 6 and votes will be counted on May 2.
With contributions from ANI
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