The Election Commission of India (EC) on Saturday cut short the ban on campaigning by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma from 48 hours to 24 hours, taking into account his “unconditional apology” and “assurance” to adhere to the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).
The EC had on Friday banned Mr. Sarma from campaigning for the April 6 polls for 48 hours after finding that a speech he made violated the MCC. He had said that the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) chief Hagrama Mohilary would be jailed if he (Mr. Mohilary) engaged in extremism.
On Saturday, the EC wrote to Mr. Sarma saying that it had considered his representation sent on Saturday and reduced the ban from 48 hours to 24 hours, which meant that he could campaign from Saturday evening onward. With polls on April 6, campaigning is scheduled to close on Sunday.
The EC said Mr. Sarma had requested it to accept his “sincere regret and assurance of abiding MCC in future”. The EC said Mr. Sarma had also pleaded on the grounds that he was himself a candidate in the constituency that was scheduled for the poll on April 6. Reducing the ban from 48 hours to 24 hours, the EC said Mr. Sarma could be given permission for holding any public meetings, processions, rallies, road shows, etc., by the district authorities concerned.
On Friday, the EC had said in its order that it had received a complaint from the Congress on March 30 that Mr. Sarma had on March 28 threatened to send the BPF chief, a Congress ally, to jail by “misusing” the National Investigation Agency (NIA). According to the EC’s order, Mr. Sarma had spoken of a case being handed over to the NIA and of “arms recovery cases” that would be “counted one by one after the election”.
In its order, the EC said it found Mr. Sarma’s statement to prima facie be in violation of the MCC and therefore issued a notice to him on April 1, asking him to respond by April 2. In his response, Mr. Sarma had denied the allegations against him, which the poll panel found “not to be satisfactory”.
In a tweet on Saturday, Mr. Sarma said he had not challenged the EC’s order before any court of law. Soon after the EC’s letter to him reducing the ban was made public, he tweeted details of a road show to be held in the evening.
