Campaigning for the by-election to the Nagaon Lok Sabha seat in Assam ended on Sunday, with the prominent parties in the fray expressing confidence about winning the constituency.
He later won from the Dispur assembly seat on a BJP ticket in the polls held in April. People know that if they have to overthrow BJP, they will have to vote for Congress,” the party’s state president Gaurav Gogoi said on Saturday. The Nagaon seat fell vacant in March this year after sitting Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi resigned from the party and joined the BJP. The ruling BJP started its campaign on a slow note, with chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stating that the seat was difficult for the party as Muslims comprise a majority of the voters. However, the tone changed as the campaign picked up pace. The Congress too is exuding confidence about retaining the seat. The ruling BJP has committed atrocities on the tribal population and language and religious minorities of the area by taking away their lands or not giving them land ‘pattas’ (records). “Our contest is with both BJP and Congress. A former government officer, Bora also has a political lineage. Her husband, Kiran Bora, had represented the Batadrava seat, and she is the daughter-in-law of Golap Borbora, Assam’s first non-Congress chief minister.
“I am 100% confident that Congress will win the seat again. I am 110% confident of a win and the people of Nagaon will ensure that the margin of victory will be around 1 million votes,” AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal said on Sunday. A total of 16 candidates are in the fray for the by-election, with the prominent ones being BJP’s Devasish Sharma, Congress candidate Sibamoni Bora and Badruddin Ajmal of the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF). The Congress, which had won the seat in 2024 and 2019, chose Bora, a former MLA from the Batadrava seat, as its candidate. The 63-year-old, who tasted electoral success in the 2021 Assembly polls, is seeking a comeback of sorts.
