Himanta Biswa Sarma is the BJP’s polling strategist for the ongoing Assam Assembly elections (Archive)
New Delhi / Guwahati:
The Election Commission has halved the 48-hour campaign ban of Assam’s minister and top BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma, which was imposed on Friday night for threatening to send the BPF chief to jail, Hagrama Mohilary, an opposition leader whose party had previously allied with his.
With his ban reduced to just 24 hours, Sarma will now be able to campaign tomorrow, the last day before the third and final phase of the Assembly elections takes place on Tuesday.
In a letter to Mr. Sarma, the Electoral Commission said that it had taken note of “his unconditional apology and guarantee / commitment” and would modify his previous order “and reduce the period of disqualification from the electoral campaign from 48 hours to 24 hours. .. “
“It has also been alleged on the basis that you yourself are a candidate in the constituency that is scheduled to vote in April,” the letter added.
Sarma, who is the BJP’s chief survey strategist and has been listed as a ‘star activist’, submitted a petition to the main electoral body today and offered his “sincere regret and assurance of complying with the MCC (Model Code of Conduct). in the future…”
Sarma had asked the Electoral Commission to reduce its ban from 48 hours to 24 hours.
The halving of his ban comes after reports this morning that Sarma had approached the Gauhati High Court to challenge the Election Commission’s order. However, sources close to him soon denied it. They said Sarma had accepted the order from the main electoral body.
Himanta Biswa Sarma, the BJP’s point man in the Northeast, is a four-time MLA (the first two of those terms were as leader of Congress) from the Jalukbari constituency.
The Election Commission issued its original ban order Friday night, after it confirmed a congressional complaint; the party said Sarma threatened to send Hagrama Mohilary, whose Bodoland Popular Front is part of the opposition alliance, to jail for abusing the National Investigation Agency.
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.
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