Guwahati: Amid the charges and counter-charges of violation of Model Code of Conduct, a flying squad of the election commission on Thursday said that they have apprehended one Jintu Hazarika, the personal assistant to the President of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC), Bhupen Borah, for carrying cash beyond the permitted limit.
In yet another crackdown in Assam’s Karimganj, over Rs 22 lakhs was seized from a vehicle intercepted at a checkpoint.
Officials said that Rs 22,95,500 was seized from the vehicle. The driver of the vehicle tried to flee but was caught after the police chased him down.
“…Such promises are not only unethical but also an attempt to influence voters through financial inducements, thereby compromising the integrity of the electoral process,” read the letter from Mr Bordoloi to the chief election commissioner.
He urged the EC to investigate the matter thoroughly and take appropriate action against Mr Sarma for his “misconduct”.
Mr Bordoloi, who filed a total of eight poll code flout complaints before the EC in the first week of his official campaign, asked “How free & fair are elections in the world’s largest democracy?”
In another complaint to the CEC, Mr Bordoloi alleged that the government is continuing distribution of forms for socio-economic survey, promising financial benefits even when MCC is in force.
Despite receiving a show-cause notice from the Assam CEO on April 6 regarding electoral inducement, Mr Bordoloi said that the government has continued to distribute forms for conducting a socio-economic survey, vowing to include beneficiaries under the ‘Orunodoi’ cash direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme.