Bar Himanta from by-poll campaign, says Cong in letter to CEC

Guwahati: Debabrata Saikia, the opposition leader in the Assam Legislative Assembly, on Friday urged the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) to bar CM Himanta Biswa Sarma from campaigning for the upcoming by-poll in the state’s five assembly constituencies slated on October 30.

“There have been several recent instances where the Chief Minister has violated the EC’s model code of conduct for which I am demanding that he is barred from campaigning for the October 30 by-elections in Assam,” Saikia said in a letter to CEM Anup Chandra Pandey.

“The Chief Minister had at a by-election campaign meeting under Bhawanipur constituency pointed to a person in the crowd and said he should be given a house and also asked that whosoever is responsible for allocation of houses in that locality to provide him with a house under the PMAY. As there is a clear-cut policy for allotment of PMAY houses, the Chief Minister isn’t supposed to and authorised to allot any house. The Chief Minister publicly said the person has no house and he should be given a house, going beyond existing official guidelines to identify persons who are suitable and who are not for allotment of a PMAY house,” Saikia said in the letter.