Asom Gana Parishad, Congress too seek deferment of GMC poll

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Close on the heels of the State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) requesting deferment of the forthcoming GMC election, its ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Opposition Congress on Saturday submitted separate memoranda to the State Election Commissioner, requesting that the poll be deferred for at least a week to facilitate traditional seven-day celebration of Bohag Bihu.

While submitting their memorandum, AGP general secretaries Ramendra Narayan Kalita and Manoj Saikia urged the SEC to enable the residents of Guwahati to celebrate Bihu properly along with the their counterparts in other parts of the State.

On the other hand, a memorandum signed by APCC president Bhupen Kumar Bora and Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly, Debabrata Saikia mentioned that they had already requested the SEC on Thursday for postponing the GMC poll in view of the Bohag Bihu festival. However, they said, the SEC has not taken any decision on their request so far.

The Congress leaders said that they would have to take some step of their own if the SEC does not heed their request.

Earlier, the APCC staged a protest demonstration in front of the Rajiv Bhawan here over the demand for deferment of the GMC election. The protestors were planning to march to the SEC office to submit their memorandum, but they were prevented from doing so by the police. Later, they handed over the memorandum to a senior police officer for submission to the SEC.

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