Silchar: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said that the state government will “put a complete ban on polygamy” after the Lok Sabha elections, hinting that the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) will be implemented in the northeastern state post polls.

Reaffirming that his government is committed to implementing the UCC in Assam, the chief minister said that they are paving the way for the implementation of UCC in Assam but want to focus on banning polygamy and child marriage.

Assam will become the third state in India to implement the UCC after Uttarakhand and Gujarat.

Earlier, Sarma had said that the state would implement UCC but added that its model would be different from other BJP-ruled states.

There will be some innovation to its implementation regarding child marriages and polygamy, he had said and added that the tribal community will be exempted from the ambit of UCC.

In January, Sarma said that public consultation on the UCC bill could happen in two to three months, following which it would be introduced in the assembly.

A Uniform Civil Code means that all sections of society, irrespective of their religion, shall be treated equally according to a national civil code, which shall apply to all uniformly.

Responding to a remark by the chief of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), Badaruddin Ajmal, Sarma said that if Ajmal wants to get married again, he should do it before the election otherwise he will be arrested.

“I know Ajmal has one wife at present and as per the law, he can have three more. If he wants to get married, I would suggest he do it before the polls. I will attend the event if he invites me. But post-election, it will be considered illegal,” the Assam CM said.

Ajmal is a three-time MP from Assam’s Dhubri constituency and is contesting this year again from the same seat. Congress has named former minister Rakibul Hussain as their candidate from Dhubri.

The BJP, among the 11 candidates in Assam, has fielded former chief minister and Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal from Dibrugarh and former Assam BJP president Ranjit Dutta has been fielded from Tezpur.

Out of the total 14 seats in Assam, the remaining three were given to the BJP’s alliance partners, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL).

The chief minister is gearing up for a marathon campaign across the northeastern state from April 1 to April 15. Assam will vote in three phases on April 19, April 26 and May 7.