File photo: Abhishek Singhvi and Himanta Sarma
Guwahati/New Delhi: Soon after the Supreme Court granted anticipatory bail to Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera in a defamation case, a fight broke out between Congress MPs Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Himanta Sarma, with the former asking him to reflect on his “grossly inappropriate” remarks.Kaira got relief after the Assam police filed a forgery and criminal case based on a complaint by Salma’s wife Riniki Bhuyan Sharma.Sarma hit back at Singhvi on X, “I don’t need lessons on democracy, public discourse or decency from anyone, least of all AM Singhvi. Decency and him can never be in the same room.” He said the issue concerned “an apolitical woman” whose character was defamed on national television using forged foreign documents. “I believe that sooner or later the courts will take notice and the guilty will be punished for their blatant defamation of women’s character,” he said.Welcoming the Supreme Court’s decision, Singhvi said the law was above all else and asked Sarma to reconsider whether it was appropriate for someone holding a constitutional office to use “grossly inappropriate” language against him. He said the SC had also cited this in its judgment and urged Sarma to express regret.Some of the remarks recorded were not suitable for repetition, he said, adding that such language undermined democratic values. Singhvi said the court had taken note of the remarks and the Solicitor General had not defended them.
The re-poll is scheduled to be held on Saturday (May 2) from 7 am to 6 pm, the notification said. After examining the reports of election officials and election observers, the notification declared the April 29 polls held at these polling stations invalid.Allegations of irregularities in the second phase led to calls for re-polling at 77 polling stations across four assembly constituencies. There was no re-polling at any polling station in the first phase of voting.According to sources, Special Observer Subrata Gupta, who visited Diamond Port on Thursday to oversee the review and verification process, recommended re-polling at 11 polling stations in Magrahat West, four polling stations in Diamond Port and 30 polling stations in Falta.“During the review, a number of disturbing findings were made, including allegations that CCTV cameras at several polling stations were switched off, resulting in the control room being unable to conduct live monitoring due to network outage,” the source said.There were also complaints that the EVMs at some stalls had been tampered with, with tape covering party symbols (except for one of the parties). “Although the presiding officer reportedly removed the tape around 1 pm, nearly 58 per cent voter turnout was recorded by then,” sources said.There are 285 polling stations in the Falta constituency, with some reporting 100% turnout.
