India opposition party charged over election march through Assam News
© India National Congress
India opposition party charged over election march through Assam

Indian authorities registered a formal complaint—known as a first information report (FIR)—against an election engagement movement led by India’s main opposition party and its organizer, according to the Press Trust of India’s police sources. The Thursday FIR alleged that the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra movement and its organizer, K B Byju, deviated from the march’s authorized path through Jorhat, Assam. It also alleged that the march failed to adhere to the prescribed district administration regulations and road safety norms.

The demonstration is being spearheaded by the Indian opposition political leader Rahul Gandhi as part of the campaign against the ruling dispensation in the run-up to the country’s national elections. The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra has covered 15 states, amounting more than 6,700 km in distance over a period of 66 days—and still counting. It started from Manipur on January 14 and will come to an end in Mumbai on March 20.

The incident has invited allegations of foul play and non-transparency on the part of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Meanwhile opposition party leader Gaurav Gogoi expressed the party’s firm belief in the support from the Indian populace.

Gandhi, a member of the Indian National Congress (INC) party, was earlier disqualified from sitting as a member of Parliament (MP) of the Lok Sabha after he was found guilty of criminal defamation in a 2019 case by a District Court in Surat, Gujarat. However, following a stay on the conviction order of the Surat District Court by the Supreme Court of India, his membership was reinstated.