Poll Code Violation Case Against Assam Chief Minister Quashed

Gauhati High Court: A single-judge bench of Justice Rumi Kumari Phookan quashed the case and set aside all the proceedings as well as observations by the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Kamrup Metropolitan.

The Gauhati High Court has quashed a case in a trial court relating to the alleged violation of the model code of conduct by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

A single-judge bench of Justice Rumi Kumari Phookan quashed the case and set aside all the proceedings as well as observations by the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Kamrup Metropolitan.

"In view of the legal proposition discussed above, the impugned order of taking cognizance by the learned trial court is nothing but a mechanical one, without due application of judicial mind, which is bad in law," she said in the order on June 10.

The case was filed by the Additional Chief Electoral Officer in May 2019 against Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was a minister in the then chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal's government, and News Live TV channel for allegedly violating the model code of conduct during the Lok Sabha polls.