By Dalim Phukan<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guwahati\/Assam, Oct 10. Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) President and Member of Parliament Gaurav Gogoi addressed a press conference in New Delhi yesterday, sharply reacting to the results of the Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency bye-election. Gogoi stated that the outcome of this bye-election is the direct culmination of an orchestrated understanding and jugalbandi (nexus) between Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) President Maulana Badruddin Ajmal. He remarked, “A friendship has existed between these two individuals for many years. The collusion and understanding observed between them ahead of the polls\u2014resembling a movie production or an organized conspiracy\u2014has manifested in today’s election result. Most alarmingly, the Election Commission of India (ECI) openly patronized this nexus.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Launching a scathing attack on Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma and Maulana Ajmal, Gogoi asserted that Dr. Sarma’s public statements over the past several days made it evident that winning or losing was not the primary concern for the BJP. Their foremost objective was to defeat the Congress party by any means. Gogoi noted that whether the BJP won or lost mattered little to the Chief Minister, adding that why sending a BJP MP to Delhi was not his primary objective remains a separate subject that would be discussed on another occasion. The Chief Minister’s singular agenda was to push the Congress backward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Similarly, analyzing statements made by the AIUDF, Gogoi pointed out that the party does not consider the BJP its political opponent. For the AIUDF, the Congress is the political adversary, while the BJP serves as an overarching guardian. Gogoi charged that throughout the election, it became evident that Maulana Ajmal acted as Himanta Biswa Sarma’s walking stick, while Dr. Sarma served as the AIUDF\u2019s political “godfather”. The Election Commission of India remained completely silent throughout this political match-fixing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Highlighting what he termed the deliberate inaction of the Election Commission, Gogoi stated that the BJP fielded a candidate who, in reality, ought to have been suspended or transferred from his administrative post well before the elections. The individual in question admitted on camera that he had been in contact with the BJP for a long time, took regular counsel from the ruling party, and had even referenced the BJP State President. Gogoi emphasized that the Congress had repeatedly brought these violations to the formal attention of the ECI. It was the constitutional duty of the Commission to remove a government officer actively aiding a political party from election-related responsibilities, yet the poll body took no action. Instead, the individual was granted complete freedom to oversee electoral rolls, inspect EVMs, and participate in campaigning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the other hand, AIUDF President Maulana Ajmal openly appealed for votes on communal grounds through campaign videos targeting the religion of candidates. Despite an AIUDF party president soliciting votes explicitly in the name of religion, the Election Commission failed to initiate any punitive action. Gogoi alleged that the Election Commission actively facilitated the script devised by the BJP and AIUDF to sideline the Congress, resulting in communal forces advancing while the secular Congress lagged behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gogoi formally demanded an independent probe into the role and conduct of the Election Commission throughout the election process. He argued that the drastic and unnatural fluctuation in Congress’s vote share\u2014compared to previous Assembly elections, Parliamentary polls, and the 2025 Panchayat elections held roughly a year ago\u2014warrants serious scrutiny. In the 2025 Panchayat polls, the AIUDF was virtually non-existent and failed to secure seats across Zilla Parishads and Anchalik Panchayats. Given that baseline, such a massive shift in Congress votes is completely anomalous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Drawing parallels, Gogoi noted that similar situations unfolded in West Bengal bye-elections (such as Nandigram and Rejinagar), where the electoral environment was compromised to assist the ruling party while the ECI remained a silent spectator. He recalled that he had repeatedly cautioned voters in public meetings that defeating the tripartite nexus of the ECI, BJP, and AIUDF would require Congress to retain 100% of its committed vote bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Congress maintained confidence in consolidating its support base, unprincipled maneuvers by the poll machinery allowed the BJP and AIUDF to exploit loopholes. Admitting that Congress could not retain 100% of its expected votes, Gogoi stated that the party would conduct an exhaustive internal review. Preliminary discussions have already been initiated with the All India Congress Committee (AICC), and comprehensive booth-level data will be evaluated to uncover the full scope of irregularities. “The crux of the matter remains that the Election Commission endorsed the communal nexus of Himanta Biswa Sarma and Badruddin Ajmal, denying secular forces their rightful mandate and handing a lifeline to the BJP,” Gogoi remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Lok Sabha MP added that the ruling regime is intensely fearful that an adverse election outcome in Assam or West Bengal would spark massive public demonstrations at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. A single defeat would deliver a major political jolt to the BJP and create tremors under Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s seat; hence, desperate measures were deployed to engineer the outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gogoi also pointed out that despite BJP ministers and legislators issuing open eviction threats during the campaign, the authorities took zero action. Similarly, repeated Congress complaints regarding a neighboring constituency’s MLA unlawfully entering polling booths in Samaguri were completely ignored. Citing the hostility faced by Congress workers in Samaguri from day one, Gogoi concluded that while ruling parties typically enjoy an administrative edge in bye-elections, a free, fair, and normal electoral process would have produced an entirely different verdict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Dalim Phukan Guwahati\/Assam, Oct 10. Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) President and Member of Parliament Gaurav Gogoi addressed a press conference in New Delhi yesterday, sharply reacting to the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":156855,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[6019,23495],"class_list":["post-156854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-stories","tag-assam","tag-guwahati"],"yoast_head":"\n