Court stays election of Atul Bora as AGP chief for violating order

Acting on a petition challenging the election, the court of civil judge Shakti Sarma ordered on September 5 that the AGP leadership should refrain from implementing resolutions passed in the party’s meeting on August 27 as they were in violation of the court’s injunction order.

A civil court in Guwahati has stayed last month’s election of Assam agriculture minister Atul Bora as the president of Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), a member of the ruling coalition, for violating an earlier order issued by the court.

Summons have been issued to Bora, Mahanta and Choudhury to appear before the court on November 11. (Photo@ATULBORA2)

Despite an injunction order issued by the court on August 26, the AGP went ahead with its 11th general council meeting on August 27 where Bora was unanimously re-elected as president of the party and water resources minister Keshab Mahanta was elected as working president.

Acting on a petition challenging the election, the court of civil judge Shakti Sarma ordered on September 5 that the AGP leadership should refrain from implementing resolutions passed in the party’s meeting on August 27 as they were in violation of the court’s injunction order.

The court asked Bora, Mahanta and senior leader Phani Bhushan Choudhury to preserve the attendance register and proceeding book of the general council meeting, CCTV footage of the AGP office and photographs of the congregation for fair adjudication of the case.

Earlier, acting on a petition by three AGP leaders, the court had on August 26 issued a restraining order on holding the general council meeting as “it was against the AGP constitution as well as against Covid protocol”, which restricted holding of political meetings because of the pandemic.

But Bora and other senior leaders went ahead with the general council meeting, stating that they had not received copies of the court’s restraining order.

In its order on September 5, the court held that Bora had seen the restraining order on WhatsApp and details of it were also aired on local TV channels as well as some newspapers on August 27, the day of the meeting.

“We are yet to get copies of the court’s order and can’t comment on it without seeing its contents. We will present our case in court and are confident that our views will be taken into consideration,” Bora told journalists on Tuesday.