Congress asks EC to cancel Himanta Sarma's candidature for Assam polls over alleged threat

On Tuesday, Congress complained to the Election Commission against Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for allegedly threatening BPF president Hagrama Mohilary. BPF which was BJP's ally decided to join the Congress-led 'Mahajot' alliance ahead of the Assam Assembly polls. Accusing Sarma of saying that the NIA will implicate Mohilary and send him to jail, the party stressed that this was an attempt to influence the voters against voting for Mahajot by "unconstitutional means". To buttress its claim, it attached a newspaper clipping dated March 29.

In the memorandum to the EC, Congress stated, "This Hon'ble Commission is bestowed upon the constitutional duty to ensure a free, fair, impartial election process and at no occasion, an atmosphere of coercion and intimidation be allowed to be created by the ruling party at the Centre in order to 'hijack' the election process. The central investigation agencies are not the tools of the party in power at the Centre to be used for electoral gains. The actions complained of against Shri Sarma are destructive of the fundamental principles of fair play on which our entire edifice of an election is based." 

Thereafter, it sought the following directions from the EC:

• Disqualify the candidature of Himanta Biswa Sarma for the Assam Assembly polls
• Impose a permanent ban on Sarma from campaigning during the remaining election period in Assam
• An FIR should be filed against Sarma for violation of several provisions of the Representation of People Act, 1951 and Section 171C of the Indian Penal Code
• Withdraw recognition of BJP for violating the Model Code of Conduct

Assam Assembly polls

The 15-year tenure of Tarun Gogoi as the Chief Minister of Assam came to an end in the 2016 Assembly polls with BJP winning 86 seats as against 26 seats won by Congress. While BJP is contesting 92 seats in the current Assembly election, it has allocated 26 and 8 seats to Asom Gana Parishad and the United People's Party Liberal respectively. It has refrained from announcing incumbent CM Sarbananda Sonowal as the CM candidate, leading to speculations that Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma might be another contender for the post. 

On March 27, 47 constituencies went to the polls in the first phase of the Assam election with a voter turnout of 79.97%. 39 and 40 more seats of Assam will go to the polls on April 1, and April 6 respectively. While the polling time has been increased by one hour, there will be 33,530 polling stations. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.