Protest Against CAB: Prafulla Kumar Mahanta Refrains From Voting

Protest Against CAB: Prafulla Kumar Mahanta Refrains From Voting

GUWAHATI: As a mark of protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB), 2019, former Chief Minister and founder president of AGP, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta did not cast his vote in the second phase of Lok Sabha election held on Thursday.

Mahanta who led the historic anti-foreigners’ movement in Assam is a voter in Nowgong parliamentary constituency. On Thursday, Mahanta refrained from exercising his franchise at the polling station at Nagaon Government Higher Secondary School. Mahanta’s wife Jayashree Goswami Mahanta too did not cast her vote at the same constituency on the same issue.

“We are always against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB), and we have appealed to the public to keep themselves aloof from those supporting the controversial Bill. The ruling BJP has announced to bring the Citizenship Bill again if it comes to power. So, we will have to thwart any attempt to bring the Bill,” Mahanta said.

Mahanta is not campaigning for the AGP-BJP alliance during the ensuing Lok Sabha polls to protest against the party’s decision to ally with the BJP. The AGP had walked out of its alliance with the BJP in January this year over the latter’s firm stand to push ahead with the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Parliament with three of its Ministers, Atul Bora, Keshab Mahanta and Phani Bhushan Choudhury, resigning from the State Government.

The AGP, however, decided to return to the NDA fold just ahead of the Lok Sabha poll and contest the elections in alliance with the BJP.

On other hand, Congress candidate from Mangaldoi Parliamentary constituency Bhubaneshwar Kalita could not cast his vote at Rangia polling station on a technical ground. Kalita’s name is enrolled in the voters’ list for both Mangaldoi and Gauhati constituencies. But Kalita enclosed the electoral roll of Gauhati along with his nomination paper to contest the poll from Mangaldoi. Since a person can vote at only one place, the presiding officer of Rangia disallowed Kalita to exercise his franchise under Mangaldoi constituency and requested him to do the same in Gauhati constituency where the election will be held on April 23.

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