Soon after the Election Commission on Saturday in a fresh order gave relief to BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma by reducing his ban from campaigning in Assam assembly polls to 24 hours, the Congress slammed the poll panel describing it as a dark day in parliamentary democracy. The party said that the poll body does not have the guts to sustain its own order. In a series of tweets, Congress national media in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala said, A dark day for Parliamentary democracy. EC doesn t even have the guts to sustain its own order. Deplorable that EC buckles under (Narendra) Modi government s pressure and reverses its own order of ban on Himanta Biswa Sarma. History will neither pardon EC nor BJP for this sin.
The authorities in Assam are likely to take action against over 500 Home Guards who refused to perform election duties and went to their homes, officials said on Saturday. Cachar district Police Superintendent Bhanwar Lal Meena said that conduct of the second phase of the Assembly election in southern Assam on Thursday was not hampered and the election process was very peaceful and smooth despite the Home Guards refusing to perform election duties. Hinting to take actions against the disgruntled Home Guards, the district police chief said that a section of the personnel (Home Guards) did not keen to hear the logic of the authorities about their wages.
Ahead of the last phase of elections in Assam, the Congress is pulling out all the stops to gain maximum seats as party leaders are pitching in for the campaigning. The third phase of Assam elections will be on April 6 in 12 districts and 40 constituencies. The Congress wants to reach all the 40 seats in the last phase and should have at least ten rallies of Rahul Gandhi and other leaders covering four assembly seats in the area. Rahul Gandhi may pitch in on the last day of campaigning on April 4.The Congress leaders who are in the campaign trail say that the party has a positive feedback in the two phases which went to polls till now. Congress leader Manish Tewari who is campaigning for the party said, The BJP has snatched away the special status of the state the reduction in the centre-state sharing schemes from 90:10 during UPA to 60:40 now and progress in the state will remain a far-fetched dream without communal harmony. He alleged that the BJP is so desperate that it is
The AGP, an alliance partner of the ruling BJP-led combine in Assam, on Sunday released its third list of candidates containing 13 names, including minister Phani Bhushan Choudhury and Bhojpuri singer Kalpana Patowary, for the assembly polls in the state. Names of three sitting MLAs also feature in the list declared by the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) general secretary Ramendra Narayan Kalita for the third and last phase of polling on April 6. Apart from Phani Bhushan Choudhury who will contest from Bongaigaon, the other sitting MLAs are Kalita himself who will be in the fray from Guwahati West and Gunindra Nath Das from Barpeta constituency.
Congress on Thursday released two more names of candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls in Assam. Ratan Engti will contest from Bokajan and Sum Ronghang from Diphu both seats are reserved for the Scheduled Tribes. As of date, Congress has released names of 68 candidates for the 126-member Assam Assembly polls which the party is contesting in alliance with All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and Bodoland People s Front (BPF). The party had on Wednesday released a list of 26 candidates, and appointed senior leaders Mohan Prakash and Jaydev Jena as special observers. The elections are scheduled to be held in three phases in Assam.