The Election Commission on Saturday reduced its 48-hour campaign ban against Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma 24 hours after the powerful BJP leader offered what he called “unconditional repentance” and asked the voting panel to cut the ban period in half.
The withdrawal or relaxation of campaign bans are rare. During the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the EC had lifted its ban on the election campaigns of BJP leader Amit Shah in Uttar Pradesh after he assured the survey panel that he would not “make any statements that violate” the code. of conduct.
Saying it was “deeply shocked and disappointed,” the Opposition Congress, which filed the complaint that led to the ban, said the measure raised “several doubts” and that the voting panel had “singularly failed” to comply with their obligations to preserve the purity of the electoral process.
With Saturday’s setback, Sarma, who is running from the Jalukbari seat in the third and final phase of the Assam elections on April 6, can now attend rallies and meetings for the last 24 hours before the campaign ends. in the state. Starting at 8 a.m. Sunday, he is scheduled to appear at a series of rallies and traveling shows, including one with Interior Minister Amit Shah, in Suwalkuchi at 3 p.m.
The initial EC order on Friday excluded Sarma for the remainder of the campaign. He was sanctioned for his comment against the president of the Bodoland Popular Front, Hagrama Mohilary. Interestingly, on the same day, the EC also transferred his brother and Goalpara SP Sushanta Biswa from the district.
The EC’s decision to ban it was made following a congressional complaint that Sarma had “openly threatened” to send the head of the Bodoland People’s Party (BPF), Hagrama Mohilary, to jail for “misusing” the National Investigation Agency. BPF is part of the alliance led by Congress.
In his speech at a demonstration on March 28, Sarma had said: “If Hagrama Mohilary practices extremism with (insurgent) Batha, he will go to jail. This is a direct talk … I already have a lot of evidence. This case is being handed over to NIA (National Investigation Agency)… And I don’t care about any Hagrama .. Tagrama. These arms recovery cases will be counted one by one after the elections. “
On Saturday morning, Sarma presented a representation to the EC urging a rethinking: “… I would like to humbly say that throughout my entire career in politics, more particularly during my electoral campaigns, I have not attacked anyone on a personal level and, Besides, I never violated any rules. of the Model Code of Conduct issued by the Election Commission of India “.
He said that a ban in the last stage of the elections would cause “irreparable loss and damage” for him and his party, as his seat goes to the polls on April 6.
“Therefore, it is my most sincere and humble prayer for the Honorable Member to accept my sincere regret and assurance of remaining in the MTC in the future and to be more pleased to reduce the period of disqualification from the electoral campaign from 48 hours to 24 hours, ”he wrote in his letter to Chief Elections Commissioner Sunil Arora.
The Commission accepted his request and ordered a partial rollback for Saturday afternoon.
An EC official told The Sunday Express that the Commission took a lenient stance on Sarma’s candidacy. “It would be hard to penalize a candidate when he has offered an unconditional apology and has assured that he will follow the MCC in the future,” he said.
This setback comes after the EC ordered a re-count at a polling station in Assam and suspended four officials for transporting an electronic voting machine in a vehicle owned by a BJP candidate.
The second phase of voting in Assam, on April 1, saw a 77 percent turnout; the third and last phase covering 40 seats is on April 6.
“This is unheard of in the annals of parliamentary history that the main electoral watchdog reverses its own decision made on a complainant’s complaint without the courtesy of even a notice to that complainant,” said Congress Leader Ashwani Kumar . “We do not know under what circumstances the Commission was persuaded by a mere letter from Mr. Sarma … The people of India who are wise, who are shrewd will understand what the real reasons might have been.”
Congressional leader Priyanka Gandhi took to Twitter saying that the EC appears to have ripped the page on “fairness” from its rules. “Under what pressure was the ban on a BJP leader who had issued a threat reduced from 48 hours to 24 hours?” she tweeted.
“Election Commission,” said Congressional Leader Rahul Gandhi in a cryptic tweet.
Congress said Sarma’s letter does not shed any new light. That he is a candidate was known before the order was approved, the party said. “There is nothing new that has been brought to the attention of the Electoral Commission except for the fact that in the previous complaint it had denied the accusations and in the last request it expressed its regret. So even after you’ve admitted to committing a crime, your period of punishment has been shortened. This is unheard of in any judicial or quasi-judicial proceeding without prior notice to the plaintiff, ”said Kumar.
Sarma’s disqualification was the second this election season.
On April 1, the EC banned DMK leader A Raja from the election campaign for 48 hours and removed his name from the list of star activists for his derogatory comments against Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami. The decision was made days after he issued a public apology for his comment.
However, in his provisional response to the EC notification, Raja requested a copy of the complaint and the opportunity for a personal hearing, which the EC claimed was an “attempt to buy time”.
(with ENS, Guwahati)
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