Cooch Behar, 18th November: The Tufanganj court has issued an arrest warrant against the Union Minister of State for Minorities and Member of Parliament John Barla for violating the elections code of conduct.
It has been alleged that John Barla, the then BJP candidate from the Lok Sabha constituency, and his party’s activist supporters had held a road meeting in the BDO office premises violating the election’s code of conduct. Election Commission officials then lodged a written complaint against him and three others on charges of the same. The remaining three were granted bail.
Despite sending summon to John Barla by the court on 15th November, neither he nor his lawyer appeared in the court. Thus, the Tufanganj Sub-Divisional Sessions Court issued an arrest warrant against him. This incident intensified the political emotion among the party members.