SHILLONG/TURA: The Election Commission has issued notices to BJP MLA and Cabinet Minister AL Hek and senior National People’s Party leader from Garo Hills Semford B Sangma for alleged violation of the model code of conduct.
While Hek was issued the notice for using his official vehicle allotted to him as Health Minister for campaigning in Khanduli of West Jaintia Hills district on Wednesday, Sangma was served the notice for allegedly making derogatory remarks on the lineage of Congress candidate for the Tura Lok Sabha seat, Mukul Sangma, during an election rally in Dadenggre town of West Garo Hills district, this week.
West Jaintia Hills district election officer issued the show cause notice to Hek after the Jowai sector office in its inquiry report confirmed that he had violated the model code of conduct in Khanduli in the district while campaigning on Wednesday.
Chief Electoral Officer FR Kharkongor on Friday informed that the sector office in its report to the district election officer and the police, who were asked to ascertain the allegations of violation of model code of conduct, have confirmed that there was indeed a violation by Hek.
Hek has been issued a show cause notice through the party and has been asked to reply to it within 48 hours to present his side of the story.
Kharkongor said that action would be taken after the reply is received and the matter may also be taken up with the Election Commission of India.
Hek is accused of using his official vehicle while campaigning for the BJP’s candidate for Shillong Lok Sabha seat, Sanbor Shullai, in West Jaintia Hills on Wednesday.
Hek has already denied using his official vehicle for campaigning saying he was using the private vehicle of a mahila worker of the party
On the other hand, the working president of the NPP in Garo Hills has been directed by the Election Commission to reply to the show cause notice latest by 1 pm of April 6.
Dubbed as one of the ‘star’ campaigners of the NPP in this election, Semford Sangma on Wednesday was addressing an election rally at Dadenggre when he made the comments about Mukul Sangma.
“Our party candidate is blemish-free unlike the Congress candidate. From ancient time our Garo tribe has always been led by leaders of pure blood. We take our lineage from our mother’s side. He (Mukul) cannot be a leader of the Garos since he is of mixed lineage. People in Delhi will question him on his Garo identity,” the NPP leader had remarked about the Congress candidate’s late mother who was from a different community.
As the video went up on social media and video surveillance teams of the Election Commission presented the raw footage, the commission decided to act.
The commission pointed out that the speech by Semford Sangma was with “malicious intent to promote undue influence on voters on grounds of caste and community of the INC candidate”.
“This can be construed as violation of the Model Code of Conduct during electioneering exercise and also points to a deliberate
intention on your part to cause undue influence during the critical period of the electioneering when the Model Code of Conduct is in force,” mentioned the Returning Officer in the show cause notice to the NPP leader. With campaigning less than three days to go, political mudslinging continues unabated in the campaign for the Tura parliamentary seat. Two days earlier, a former MLA supporting the Congress had also branded NPP’s Agatha Sangma as a “non-performer’ questioning her absence from debates and questions in parliament and calling her as a ‘Nilmoni’.
