Ahead of Rajya Sabha elections, horse-trading accusations rock Assam assembly

GUWAHATI: Assam’s opposition parties walked out of the state assembly on Monday, accusing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government of trying to lure its legislators ahead of elections for two Rajya Sabha seats from Assam.

Elections for the two seats, which are due to fall vacant on April 2, are scheduled for March 31. While the ruling alliance looks set to win one seat, there’s intense competition between the treasury benches and opposition to wrest the other seat.

The BJP has named Pabitra Margherita and leader of its ruling partner United Peoples’ Party Liberal (UPPL), Rwngwra Narzary, as candidates for the two seats. Congress leader Ripun Bora will be the consensus candidate of opposition parties. All three candidates filed their nomination papers on Monday.

“The ruling party is trying to murder democracy and the Constitution. On Sunday, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma visited the residence of one Congress MLA and stated that several other legislators from our party are on their side. This shows how the ruling party is trying to subvert the election for its benefit,” Congress MLA and leader of opposition Debabrata Sakia said.

Sakia said the speaker didn’t listen to the opposition pleas despite all opposition members raising the issue of the ruling party trying to violate constitutional provisions “The House was not in order, but he continued with proceedings. This is unfortunate,” he added.

Earlier, all opposition MLAs from Congress, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), CPI (M) and Raijor Dal tried to disrupt proceedings in the assembly, shouting slogans against Sarma and the BJP. They then staged a walkout from the House.

“MLAs have a conscience and they aren’t horses to be traded. They will give their votes based on their conscience and logic. One shouldn’t equate that to horse-trading,” Himanta Biswa Sarma said, countering the opposition charge.

Congress state president Bhupen Kumar Borah said the party has filed complaints with the Election Commission and the assembly speaker accusing the BJP of trying to buy the support of its legislators.

“There are no horses or lions in our party. They are in BJP and that party keeps looking for such persons. We have legislators who are like gold purified by fire,” said Congress candidate Ripun Bora.

In Assam, a candidate needs at least 43 first votes of MLAs to win a Rajya Sabha election. Of the total 126 seats in the state assembly, BJP has 63 members while its allies Asom Gana Parishad and UPPL have 9 and 7 MLAs, respectively. The party is also expected to get support of 3 MLAs of Bodoland Peoples’ Front — taking its tally to 82 votes — four short of the 86 needed to win both seats.

On the other hand, Congress has 27 MLAs, AIUDF has 15 and CPI (M) and Raijor Dal have one legislator each taking the opposition tally to 44. It will be enough to secure a win in the second seat if all MLAs vote for Bora, opposition leaders said.