Taking an action against BJP senior leader and Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Election Commission of India has barred him for 48-hours from poll campaigning in the state prior to the third and final phase of Assembly Elections, which are scheduled to be held on April 6. The ban will come into effect from tonight refraining the star-campaigner to seek votes for his party.
The EC order however came on late Friday night after the Congress party lodged a complaint against him on the accusation of threatening to send Hagrama Mohilary, whose Bodoland People's Front (BPF) is a member of the opposition alliance, to jail by falsely using NIA.
Earlier on Thursday, the EC had issued a show-cause to Sarna to which he replied today perhaps in the misfortune for him, his justification was not lucid and satisfactory.
In its order on Friday, EC said, "... the Commission hereby strongly condemns the impugned statements made by Shri Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP leader, and star campaigner... bars him from holding any public meetings, processions, rallies, roadshows, interviews and public utterances in media (electronic, print, social media, etc.) in connection with the ongoing elections for 48 hours from immediate effect".
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Notably, the comment which caused Sarna's ban was during a speech on March 28.
"If Hagrama Mohilary does extremism... he will go to jail. This is straight talk... Already got a lot of evidence. This case is being given to NIA (National Investigation Agency). The recovery of arms at Kokrajhar in a car, that case is being given to NIA. Nobody will be allowed to do unrest in Bodoland Territorial Region, even if he is Hagrama," the BJP leader said.
The Congress after the two days of Sarna's hate speech filed a complaint with EC officials.
Pertinently, Mohilary was once an ally of the BJP but later joined the Congress after the BJP become an ally with the United People's Party Liberal (UPPL) to form Bodoland Territorial Council in December.