Will conduct postmortem of bypoll result: Assam Congress chief

Guwahati, Nov 24 (IANS) After a poor show in the bypolls, Assam Congress president Bhupen Borah said that the postmortem for such an unexpected result would be conducted very soon.

However, he also asserted that the effort to consolidate all anti-BJP forces before the next Assembly election in the state will be carried out by the opposition party.

Borah told reporters: “We expect the mandate given by the people. We will analyse the results very soon and then I can put forward the reasons for our loss in the byelections. But I will continue to consolidate all anti-BJP forces including individual personalities to take on the ruling dispensation.”

Dhubri Congress MP Rakibul Hussain alleged that the BJP conducted wide-scale rigging in the by-election in the Samaguri Assembly seat.

Hussain has been representing Samaguri in the Assembly since 2001 and he vacated this seat after winning Lok Sabha polls this year. Congress gave a ticket to his son Tanzil Hussain to contest the bypolls; however, he suffered a huge defeat to BJP’s Diplu Ranjan Sarmah.

Rakibul Hussain said: “Votes were rigged in numerous polling booths under Samaguri assembly constituency. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma used administrative machinery to ensure the defeat of my son in the by-election.”

Meanwhile, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said, “I take full responsibility for my party’s loss in the Behali assembly constituency.”

The Congress leader actively campaigned in Behali for more than two months.

Five Assembly seats in Assam—Dholai, Behali, Samaguri, Bongaigaon, Sidli went to bypolls as the legislators in these seats were elected to the Lok Sabha in the general elections this year.

Except for Samaguri, other four constituencies were held by BJP and its allies—Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL).

The BJP has retained two constituencies—Dholai and Behali with Nihar Ranjan Das and Diganta Ghatowal comfortably winning these two constituencies in the by-election. The ruling party breached Congress bastion in Samaguri with the win of Diplu Ranjan Sarmah.

AGP also won the Bongaigaon seat by a margin of 35,164 votes. Diptimayee Choudhury won here on AGP’s ticket. Her husband, now a Lok Sabha MP from Barpeta—Phanibhusan Choudhury, was a six-time MLA from Bongaigaon seat.

Another ally of the BJP, UPPL also won the byelection in the Sidli assembly constituency defeating his nearest candidate by a difference of 37,016 votes.

Congress fought elections in five seats but failed to win a single seat.

--IANS

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