News Analysis India

Tag: Assam elections

  • People have shown red card to Congress-AIUDF alliance: PM Modi in Assam

    Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday claimed the people in football-crazy Assam had shown the red card to the “Mahajot” in the first two phases of Assembly elections.

    “The whole of India knows football is very popular among the youth here. Given the sense I am getting after the two phases of polls, I tell you in their words, the people have shown the red card to Congress-AIUDF (All India United Democratic Front),” Modi said at a rally in Kokrajhar while campaigning for the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) candidate.

    The UPPL as well as Asom Gana Parishad is an ally of the BJP. The Congress leads the ten-party grand alliance that also has the AIUDF.

    “People’s trust is in the NDA. The Mahajot will come and tell you about big things but the people of Assam have to be wary of them,” Modi said.

    He said this election is between the “Mahajuth” of “Mahajot” and the “Maha Vikash” of the double engine.

    “The Congress instigated people from the valleys and the hills and made them fight. The NDA united them through the bridge of development. The Congress is responsible for the encroachment of land in satras and namghars (Vaishnavite prayer centres). The NDA freed them,” the PM said.

    ALSO READ | Assam Congress MLAs will not leave party post-election, says Gehlot

    He said the NDA had made an honest attempt to take the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) to the path of peace and development.

    “The Congress’ long tenure in power had pushed Assam to bombs, guns, and blockades. The NDA ensured peace and respect. Remember, it was Atalji’s (former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee) NDA government that gave the BTC (Bodoland Territorial Council) to you. Even the present NDA government signed the BTR agreement for permanent peace in Bodoland,” Modi said.

    Stating that peace has returned to Assam after a long time, he said the NDA was committed to helping those “friends” who had abjured the path of violence. He appealed to those still wielding the gun to join the NDA’s mission for peace and progress.

    “We all know how the Congress’ misgovernance allowed Kokrajhar to suffer for years. The people have not forgotten that run of violence. The then Congress governments in the state and at the Centre silently watched the tamasha. They are now trying to deceive Bodoland again,” Modi said.

  • Assam polls: Women turn out in large numbers in morning hours, overall situation peaceful

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: Long queues were seen outside most of the booths as women stepped out in large numbers during the early hours of polling at 39 seats in the second phase of the assembly elections in Assam.

    Though there were reports of EVM glitches from some polling stations, the exact figure was yet to be ascertained, an official said.

    An estimated 10.51 per cent of the total 73,44,631 electorate exercised their franchise till 9 am, they said.

    The elections started at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm.

    At most of the places, people were seen following COVID-19 guidelines such as wearing masks and maintaining social distance.

    Sanitisers were made available at all the booths, while temperatures were being checked with thermal scanners.

    The fate of 345 candidates, including five ministers and the deputy speaker, is being decided in this phase.

    The constituencies are spread over 13 districts in Barak Valley, the Hill districts and parts of central and lower Assam.

    No untoward incident was reported and the overall situation was peaceful, officials said.

    Several constituencies received heavy overnight showers but the weather cleared in the morning, helping record the significant turnout in the initial hours, they said.

    Rains and thunderstorms are common here before the Rongali Bihu festival, which is a fortnight away.

    In many of the 117 model polling stations, the first voters were greeted with ‘gamosas’, and in some with saplings.

  • Assam Congress MLAs will not leave party post-election, says Gehlot

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday asserted that Congress MLAs will not leave the party after the assembly polls, as the people of the state have seen the BJP-led government’s “misrule” for five years.

    Geholt, whose government was on the brink of collapse last year due to a rebellion by a section of Congress MLAs allegedly at the instigation of the saffron party, claimed at a press conference that the election results of Assam and West Bengal will give “a jerk to the BJP and its fascist ideology”.

    “You know what happened in Rajasthan. By God’s grace, we survived. The BJP has become the world’s richest party. They have introduced electoral bonds and 90 per cent of the money is going to the BJP,” he said.

    Asked if the Congress will be able to retain all its MLAs after the election, Gehlot said that all its elected representatives will stay in the party as the people of the state have seen the “misrule” of the saffron party-led government in Assam.

    The Congress government in Rajasthan had faced a crisis in July last year after a rebellion by former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and 18 other Congress MLAs against Gehlot’s leadership.

    The Congress had accused the BJP leaders including Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat of trying to topple the government by horse-trading.

    He also alleged that the BJP has formed governments in Manipur, Goa, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh in recent years by way “cheating”.

    The saffron party will not form government in any of the four states Assam, West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu – and the Union Territory of Puducherry where assembly election is being held, the Congress leader asserted.

    “In West Bengal, the BJP will not be able to come to power and the Congress will be forming the government in Assam. The results of these two states will give a jerk to the BJP and its fascist ideology,” Gehlot said.

    He alleged that independent bodies such as the judiciary, CBI, ED, IT and the ECI are pressured by the ruling party to work in its favour and it’s a “threat” to democracy.

    “The RSS and BJP (leaders) are all fascist people. They are just wearing the mask of democracy. The BJP is totally exposed and (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi’s (popularity) graph is going down,” the Congress leader said.

    “Journalists, activists and lawyers are in jail. Nobody feels it safe to talk on the phone and everybody is making calls using WhatsApp and Signal. Why?” said, indicating that phones of a section of the people are being tapped.

    Without naming senior Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Congress general secretary Jitendra Singh who is also present at the press conference, claimed that his dream of becoming a chief minister in a BJP government will not be fulfilled.

    “What happened to the person who was all dressed up to take oath as the BJP CM? He won’t be a CM in the BJP. His dream of becoming a CM in BJP will never be fulfilled. All of you know whom I am talking about,” Singh said.

    The BJP has not announced its chief ministerial candidate before the Assam polls.

    The Congress has been claiming that the state currently has “two chief ministers”, in an apparent reference to rumours of senior minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal acting as rival power centres.

    Sarma left the Congress to join the BJP in 2015.

    AICC spokesperson Gourav Vallabh claimed that Assam did not do well during the five years of the BJP rule.

    Assam’s rank in Business Reform Action Plan Results 2019 is 20th out of all Indian states and Union Territories despite the BJP boasting about the Assam Ease of Doing Business Act, 2016, he claimed.

    “On the Ease of Doing Business portal, 35,000 applications were received and there was a backlog of 20,000 applications. The government did not have the will to industrialise Assam. Instead, they are selling all the PSUs here,” he said.

    Of the total FDI received between October 2019 and December 2020 in the country, Assam accounts for just 0.01 per cent of it, Vallabh claimed.

    “The number of MSME units and investments coming in have been on a constant decline. In 2016-17, 2,277 units were set up with Rs 606 crore investment. It declined to 1,123 new units in 2018-19 with Rs 200 crore investment,” he added.

  • Assam breaks all records in poll seizures, items worth over Rs 110 crore confiscated so far

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: Assam broke all previous records in seizures of cash, liquor, drug and other goods after the assembly polls were notified with several agencies confiscating items worth over Rs 110 crore, Chief Electoral Officer of Assam Nitin Khade said on Wednesday.

    During the 2016 state polls, central and state agencies had seized goods worth less than Rs 20 crore.

    Addressing a press conference, Khade said, “After the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into force on February 26 in view of the Assam assembly elections, cash and other valuables worth Rs 110.83 crore have been seized till date.

    “Till now, seizures of drugs and narcotics worth Rs 34.29 crore, over 16.61 lakh litres of liquor worth Rs 33.44 crore, cash amounting to Rs 24.50 crore along with gold, silver jewelleries and gold bars worth Rs 3.68 crore have been made.”

    The items were seized from different parts of the state during search operations carried out by Assam Police, flying squads, static surveillance team, excise, and other enforcement and regulatory agencies, he said.

    Freebies and other items like cigarettes of foreign origin, poppy seeds, black pepper, areca nuts, pan masala worth Rs 14.91 crore have also been confiscated, Kharda said.

    “So far, 50 FIRs have been registered across the state related to expenditure violation and 5,234 FIRs lodged in connection with violation of excise rules,” the CEO said.

    However, he did not share the number of persons who were detained and arrested in connection with the FIRs.

    Regarding MCC violations, Khade said, “A total of 2,696 cases have been registered. Out of these, 1,272 cases have been registered online through cVigil app of which 908 cases have been found to be correct.”

    After the polls were notified on February 26, all constituencies in Assam formed a minimum of three Static Surveillance Teams (SST) and Flying Squads (FS) each, with some even having six such teams.

    “We have a minimum of 756 teams working across the state.

    The seizures by all state and central agencies along with SST and FS have crossed all figures of last elections,” an official of the Election department said.

    Various regulatory agencies like Excise, Police, DRI, NCB, SLBC (SBI), Income Tax, RPF, CISF, CGST, SSB and BSF are engaged in enforcing MCC across the state and carrying out search operations and seizures.

    While the first phase of elections was held on March 27, polling for 39 seats will be held in the second phase on April 1, and 40 in the third and final phase on April 6.

    Talking about the second phase of polling on Thursday, Khade said, “We are fully prepared for it. Dispatch of polling and police officials began from yesterday.”

    In all, 345 candidates, including 26 women, are in the fray in this phase, the polling for which will be held from 7 am to 6 pm amid heavy security and strict COVID-19 guidelines.

  • Assam Jatiya Parishad files complaint with election office against BJP candidate Rama Kanta Dewri

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: The Assam Jatiya Parishad on Wednesday complained to the Chief Electoral Officer against sitting BJP MLA and Morigain candidate Rama Kanta Dewri for allegedly distributing money.

    The newly floated political party enclosed a video, which has gone viral showing Dewri of handing over money to some women.

    The complaint to the CEO said the BJP MLA is “clearly seen to have distributed money in cash amongst a crowd predominantly consisted of women”.

    “The act appears to be a clear case of corrupt practices and electoral offence under the legal provisions governing conduct of elections which warrant stern action by the ECI,” AJP Office Secretary Nikhil Bhattacharjya said in the letter.

    The party demanded an inquiry into the matter and “appropriate legal action” against the candidate.

    Morigaon constituency is going to polls in the second phase on Thursday.

    Dewri will have a direct contest against CPI candidate Munin Mahanta, who is representing the Congress-led Grand Alliance.

    AJP’s Banikanta Das is also in the fray from the Morigaon seat.

  • Unlike BJP, Congress fulfils its poll promises: Rahul Gandhi

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday visited the famed Kamakhya temple in Guwahati and offered puja.

    Speaking to reporters at the temple, Gandhi said that unlike the BJP his party keeps the promises made to the people during the elections.

    Replying to a question that what his party will do if it wins the state elections, Gandhi said, “We have promised five guarantees”.

    Asked how the Congress will fulfil the ‘five guarantees’, Gandhi shot back, “Do you know what guarantee means? We are not like BJP, we fulfill what we promise.”

    The Congress leader said that in Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka his party had promised to waive farm loans and did it after assuming power.

    “In Assam, we have guaranteed to raise the tea garden workers’ daily wage to Rs 365,” he said, referring to one of the five promises.

    Gandhi offered prayers at the Shaktipeeth atop the Nilachal Hill prior to setting out for election rallies at Chaygaon and Barkhetri, which will go to the polls in the last phase on April 6.

    Gandhi could not travel to his scheduled rallies at Silchar, Haflong and Bokajan on Tuesday due to heavy downpour and bad weather there.

    He instead posted his message on Twitter, asserting that his party will fulfill all its ‘five guarantees’ when it forms government in the state.

    The Congress has promised in its ‘guarantees’ that it will not allow the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) to be implemented in Assam, provide employment to five lakh youths, provide 200 units of free electricity per month to all households, give monthly assistance of Rs 2,000 to every housewife, besides raising the minimum daily wages of tea garden workers.

    Elections to 39 constituencies will be held in the second phase on Thursday, and 40 seats in the final phase on April 6.

    An estimated 79.97 per cent of the total 81.09 lakh voters had exercised their franchise in 47 assembly constituencies during the first phase of polling in Assam on March 27.

  • Assam elections: Barak valley’s powerful Roy family jumps into poll fray

    By PTI
    SILCHAR: Without giving an iota of attention to the criticism of dynasty politics, a billionaire political family’s three members are in the fray for Assam Assembly elections from different constituencies of Barak valley.

    Six consecutive time MLA and former Congress minister Gautam Roy, who has switched side to BJP this time, his son and former MLA Rahul and daughter-in-law newcomer Daisy are contesting from Katigora, Udharbond and Algapur constituency respectively.

    All the three constituencies spread across Cachar and Hailakandi districts are going to polls in the second phase on April 1.

    According to the affidavits of the three candidates, the total net worth of the Barak valley’s powerful Roy family has been estimated to be at Rs 142.57 crore.

    Roy’s wife Mandira also became an MLA after winning the Algapur seat on Congress ticket in the by-election of 2013, while his father Santosh Kumar Roy had represented the Katlichera constituency from 1972-78.

    The 72-year-old veteran politician represented the Katlichera seat in every election since 1985 and was a minister in former chief minister Tarun Gogoi’s cabinet, but lost to AIUDF’s Suzam Uddin Laskar in 2016.

    Roy joined the BJP in 2019 after the Congress suspended him for “anti-party activities”.

    The saffron party shifted him to Katigora constituency by replacing the sitting MLA Amar Chand Jain and allotted his base Katlichera to Subrata Nath.

    When asked about the shifting of the constituency, Roy told PTI: “It is as per the decision of the party and I have no objection in that. I am 100 per cent confident of winning the election this time from Katigora.”

    His son Rahul (46) won the Algapur seat in 2006 on a Congress ticket, but lost the same in 2011 and 2016.

    He resigned from the Congress in 2019 in support of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

    Giving the Algapur seat to his wife Daisy (46), Rahul shifted to Udharbond.

    Both husband and wife are contesting as Independents this time.

    Talking about his son and daughter-in-law, Gautam Roy said: “They are matured people. They stay separately and have separate businesses. They independently took the decision to contest the election. I have no say in that.”

    Asked if their contesting will hamper the prospect of BJP in both Udharbond and Algapur seats, the father said: “What can I do in that? They don’t have any political link with me. They don’t listen to me. Otherwise, Rahul would not have lost two times earlier.”

    When asked if he has blessed his son and daughter-in- law for the upcoming electoral battle, Roy said they have not come to him yet.

    In his affidavit, Gautam Roy declared a total asset of Rs 3.11 crore, including Rs 2.86 crore worth of immovable properties.

    He has a liability of Rs 12.71 lakh.

    Considering the Rs 2.59 crore worth of properties of wife Mandira and Rs 40 lakh properties of one dependent Sutanuka, the total value of Roy’s family have been shown as Rs 6.09 crore.

    Rahul Roy in his affidavit said that he owns total assets of Rs 136.22 crore, including immovable properties of Rs 130.97 crore.

    His total liabilities stand at Rs 6.40 crore.

    Daisy has been mentioned to posses only movable assets worth Rs 18.04 lakh in her as well as Rahul’s affidavits, but no immovable properties.

    Rahul also said in the affidavit that one dependent Satarupa has movable properties worth Rs 7.82 lakh.

    Considering all the figures, the total value of the assets owned by Rahul Roy’s immediate family is Rs 136.48 crore.

    Altogether 345 candidates are contesting in 39 constituencies going for polls in the second phase.

    Their fate will be sealed by 73,44,631 electors, including 37,34,537 males, 36,09,959 females and 135 transgenders.

    There are 946 candidates in total for election of the 126-member Assam Legislative Assembly, being held in three phases on March 27, April 1 and April 6.

  • INTERVIEW | BJP is suppressing our diversity, making us vassals of Nagpur: Gogoi  

    Express News Service
    One of the main election planks of the Bharatiya Janata Party is development, what about the Congress?

    I don’t hear the BJP talking about development, instead we are doing that. In our manifesto we have talked about what we will do for all sectors. We have announced that we will set up a fund for the poorest of the poor.

    We have also recognised that a woman’s household work is of value so for householders we have announced a financial aid of Rs 2,000 per month.

    Our campaign is around five guarantees which focuses on jobs, relief from inflation and tea garden workers who were promised the sky but got nothing. Other than development we are also talking about the identity of the Assamese culture. We have Muslims and several tribes.

    The Congress government gave the tribals development councils which helped them assert their unique cultural identity.

    But this government is trying to homogenise Assam and reduce the diversity into one form of philosophy that emanates from Nagpur. So while we want to celebrate our diversity, they want to reduce us to vassals of Nagpur.

    How do you propose to protect the Assamese identity?

    The dominating discourse in this election is the Citizenship Amendment Act. The Assam Accord has been made redundant by the CAA. The accord is an article of faith for the people because it resolved the burning issue of illegal immigration. Now the BJP is imposing its will, it is choking the cultural and democratic aspirations of the people through the CAA.

    But the BJP says the fears over the CAA are unfounded as all those who had to enter Assam are already here, more people will not come into Assam.

    We are a democracy where the will of the people is supreme and the people of Assam never wanted the CAA. Why is the government not listening to the people? The government has to abide by the wishes of the people but they want to impose their own ideology and their own arguments using brute force and political majority. This is not democracy but dictatorship.

    There is a view that the Congress alliance with the All-India United Democratic Front has not gone down well with the local Assamese, who are opposed to illegal immigration.

    There are prominent voices here calling for unity among all political parties to oppose the CAA. My late father was a proponent of this alliance. It has not happened just a few months before the elections. Last year the Congress and the AIUDF came together and sent leading journalist Ajit Bhuyan, a prominent voice against the CAA, to the Rajya Sabha. His candidature was welcomed by the people. This larger alliance which has the Left parties, the Bodo People’s Front and some smaller parties has the blessings of the people.

    The 2016 assembly election vote share shows the Congress-AIUDF alliance stands to benefit from consolidation of votes in only 14 seats. Is that a worry?

    You have only added the vote share of the Congress and the AIUDF, you have not added the vote share of the CPI-M or the BPF. The BJP president, Ranjit Kumar Dass, has had to change his seat because of the alliance. In this constituency the alliance candidate is not from the Congress or the AIUDF but a CPM candidate. Dass is unsure of winning his own seat. It shows how shaky and unsure the BJP is. So we cannot reduce the mahajot to just two parties, there are other parties with their own vote share and presence.

    Is the Congress united? The state president, Ripun Bora, recently said if the Congress comes to power he should be the chief minister so there seems to be a tussle already.

    All of us are united, none of us are here for our personal ambitions, we are here for the five guarantees that we have promised. If there is any division it is in the BJP where there are two camps. One camp seems to be favoured by the Prime Minister and other camp seems to have the favour of the union home minister. Many supporters of the chief minister have been denied tickets so clearly there are two leaders in the BJP.

    How confident are you, surveys show the mahajot will fall short.

    We are very confident, the response to Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi’s meetings have been electrifying. They are engaging in personal, one-to-one meetings. Rahul met college students in a small town, Priyanka visited the home of a tea garden worker. When such interactions are captured on social media instead of large rallies they have a positive impact.

    Was it a conscious decision to not have large rallies?

    We had a large rally in Sivasagar and we will have more. Let us call it the rally plus model where we also engage in meaningful conversations through personal meetings. Has Prime Minister Modi spent time with the tea garden workers? Has the PM gone to a college in Assam and fielded unscripted questions? He has not, but Rahul has. So through social media the people have seen the difference between our leaders and theirs. 

  • Congress used minorities as commodity, exploited their sentiments for vote bank politics: Jitendra Singh

    Jitendra Singh said a dangerous phenomenon is being witnessed in the Assam election and the BJP is determined to thwart this evil design.

  • Assam polls: AIUDF will back a Congress CM, says Badruddin Ajmal

    Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, chief of Assam’s minority-based All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), has reiterated he is not in the race for the chief minister’s chair if the Congress-led grand alliance of Opposition grabs power.

    “I am very happy to hear from my friends in Upper Assam that the Congress-led #Mahajot has swept the first phase (polls). The lowest figure I am hearing from anyone is 30 seats. AIUDF looks forward to supporting a Congress Chief Minister after 2 May,” Ajmal tweeted on Sunday.

    This is the second time that he asserted the CM candidate would be from the Congress if the Opposition alliance rises to power. His latest statement comes as Assam Minister and BJP’s face in the Northeast, Himanta Biswa Sarma, is allegedly trying to polarize the voters by telling them that the AIUDF chief would become the Assam CM if the “Mahajot” grabs power.

    ALSO READ | Why did BJP spend crores on newspaper ad if it’s confident of winning all Upper Assam seats: Congress

    Ajmal is viewed by his rivals and critics as a sympathizer of the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. The AIUDF was floated in 2005 and most of its MLAs have been from the minority community.

    Recently, Sarma had asserted that the BJP does not need the votes of the “Miyas” (Bengali-speaking Muslims), viewed the AIUDF’s vote-bank. Later, he revised the statement by stating “I don’t need the votes of the Miyas”. His Jalukbari constituency has a negligible number of Bengali-speaking Muslim voters.

    The Congress-led grand alliance was formed with ten parties last month with the sole intention of ousting the BJP from power. The Congress-AIUDF alliance is expected to thwart the split of anti-BJP votes. In the 2016 elections, the Congress-AIUDF combine’s vote share was more than that of the winning candidates from either the BJP or the AGP in 14 of the state’s 126 seats.

    The first phase elections on March 27 were held in 47 constituencies across Upper Assam and parts of Northern and Central Assam. The BJP-AGP combine had won 35 of the 47 seats in the last election. The Assamese-majority Upper Assam also has a sizeable population of tea garden workers.