A couple of days to go, the fate of election to the Tamulpur Assembly constituency in Assam hangs in the balance.
With the Election Commission (EC) refusing to intervene in the election process in the constituency where Rangja Khungur Basumatary filed his nomination as a Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) candidate but joined the BJP and started campaigning for United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) candidate, which is backed by the BJP, the BPF on Sunday moved the Supreme Court seeking the postponement of polling in the constituency.
The election in Tamulpur will be held on April 6 in the third and last phase of the Assam Assembly polls.
In a statement released Sunday evening, the poll body said at this stage polling could only be adjourned (or candidates changed) “only in event of death of a candidate”.
“The complaint (filed by the BPF) has been examined... the Commission is of the considered view that under the extant statutory provisions the matter does not warrant any intervention at this juncture,” it said, adding that symbol allocations had already been completed. EC also said it was not provided with any documentary evidence to suggest that Basumatary joined the BJP or that he was removed from the BPF, when it heard the matter. The list of contesting candidates has already been finalised by the returning officer, according to the EC’s reply to the party.
BPF chief Hagrama Mohilary had written to the Election Commission - twice - to ask for polling to be suspended and for permission to change his party’s candidate for the seat.
The candidate submitted before the commission that he has neither received any membership letter from the BJP nor has been given any letter of dismissal or suspension of membership by the BPF. “I willingly without any pressure from any quarter, on April 1, 2021, joined the BJP. I have not received any notice or letter from BPF and neither any letter from BJP in connection with the joining to BJP. At present, I am campaigning in favour of BJP-supported UPPL candidate,” Basumatary told the EC.
The EC said it had received assurances from Basumatary, who said he joined the BJP on April 1, that he had done so “willingly (and) without pressure from any quarter”.
It noted that one of its senior officers received a document over WhatsApp on Saturday suggesting that the BPF removed Basumatary from the party’s primary membership from April 1.
The reply stated that the WhatsApp document “seems an afterthought” as no such document was made available to the Commission on April 2 when the matter was being heard.
The Bodo People’s Front (BPF) had moved the poll panel alleging that its candidate Basumatary joined the BJP on April 1 under inducement.
The BPF and its ally, the Congress, have slammed the BJP on this issue; the ruling party has been accused of “horse-trading” and violating the “core requirement of fairness in elections”. The BPF had lodged a complaint with the EC after its candidate from the Tamulpur assembly segment in Baksa district of the Bodoland Territorial Region had joined the BJP on April 1