Sherman campaigning for Manoranjan Talukdar, Cong seek his disqualification

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaMay 2, 2024

In a new development just four days ahead of the third phase of Lok Sabha elections, the Assam Congress Legislature Party (ACLP) on Thursday submitted a letter to Assam Assembly speaker Biswajit Daimary seeking disqualification of its suspended MLA Sherman Ali Ahmed from the Assam Legislative Assembly within 24 hours.

Sherman represents the Baghbar Legislative Assembly constituency under the Barpeta Lok sabha seat, which goes for a poll on May 7.

A suspended MLA of the Congress, Sherman Ali Ahmed was seen campaigning for CPI-M candidate Manoranjan Talukdar in the Barpeta Lok Sabha constituency against his own party candidate Deep Bayan.

In his 167-page complaint to Assam Assembly speaker Biswajit Daimary, ACLP deputy leader Rakibul Hussain alleged that Ahmed has been campaigning for other party candidates in ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

“Sherman Ali Ahmed has been directly campaigning against our party’s official candidates. He has even uploaded things against Congress candidates on his Facebook page. This is in clear violation of rules and we have sought immediate action from the speaker, of which we are hopeful,” Hussain, who is also a candidate from Dhubri Lok Sabha seat, said.

Hussain, accompanied by Congress national general secretary and in-charge of Assam, Prithviraj Sathe and other leaders, handed the complaint to assembly secretary Dulal Pegu as Daimary was out of town.

“We spoke to the speaker over the phone and he asked us to submit the complaint to Dulal Pegu. The speaker asked Pegu to update him on the matter immediately,” Hussain said.

Sathe said the 167-page complaint included documents and references that showed that MLAs were disqualified from the assembly within 24 hours when they disobeyed the party whip.

“It is the responsibility of the speaker now to set an example by acting against the MLA,” he added. 

This was the second time that Congress approached the speaker with a written application seeking the disqualification of Ahmed. 

The Congress had written to Daimary for the first time on April 26, 2022, seeking Ahmed’s disqualification for alleged anti-party activities.

Reacting to the letter, Ahmed told reporters: “I have not received any instruction from the party. Therefore I support CPM candidate Manoranjan Talukdar in Barpeta, Maulana Badaruddin Ajmal in Dhubri and Gaurav Gogoi in Jorhat.”

“I believe the leaders like Rakibul Hussain can’t fool Muslim people in Dhubri. If he is concerned about Muslims, how can 5 lakh Muslims were homeless when he was a cabinet minister in 2012? At a time when he was the third powerful cabinet minister of the state, 500 Muslims were murdered in Narsinbari. Rakibul never voiced for Muslims and I think he will be defeated in the election and Ajmal Sahed will win the seat by a huge margin of votes,” he added.

 Ahmed was suspended from the Congress on October 4, 2021, for “repeatedly violating party discipline” by making “communal comments”.

Ahmed had called martyrs of Assam Agitation assassins, which triggered widespread protest across the state.

On October 3, 2021, police arrested him on charges of provocation with intent to cause riot and promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion.