Guwahati: As by-polls to the five assembly constituencies in Assam are scheduled for November 13, politicking has reached a different level at the Samaguri constituency in Nagaon district. At least two rounds of pre-election violence have already taken place in different areas of Samaguri since Tuesday, when the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the date for the by-elections, leading to large-scale vandalism and injuries to several members of workers across political parties.
Locals said while some members of the BJP attacked a convoy of Congress leaders in Samaguri on Tuesday, a group of BJP workers allegedly attacked the house of a Congress supporter in Magurmari on Wednesday night leading to vandalism and injuries to some. While such stray incidents have occurred in Samaguri, peaceful political activities exist in the four other poll-bound constituencies of Behali, Dholai, Bongaigaon and Sidli.
The ruling BJP will likely field its general secretary Diplu Ranjan Sarma and Congress has finalized its young Turk Tanzil Hussain, son of Dhubri Lok Sabha MP Rakibul Hussain. The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) also plans to field a 'strong candidate' in Samaguri. The AIUDF has yet to finalize a candidate in the constituency.
Why is Samaguri a prestige issue?
The November 13 byelections to the Samaguri constituency are a prestige fight among the three political parties—the BJP, the Congress, and the AIUDF.
For BJP, this byelection gained significance as the saffron party performed poorly in Central and Upper Assam in the last Lok Sabha elections. At the same time, the BJP failed to win the Kaliabor Lok Sabha constituency despite going all guns blazing against Congress' Gaurab Gogoi. This time the party is seemingly trying to avenge the debacle in Kaliabar. The saffron party also failed to perform well in the Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency, which was considered a BJP bastion until 2019, and Congress retained it in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. BJP's Rajen Gohain represented Nagaon for four consecutive terms from 1999 to 2019.
Samaguri has become a Congress stronghold with former state minister and current Lok Sabha MP from Dhubri Rakibul Hussain retaining it for the last 23 years. Hussain vacated the seat earlier this year after he successfully contested from the Dhubri Lok Sabha seat. Although the opposition party has yet to formally declare its candidate, the grand old party will likely give the Samaguri ticket to Tanzil Hussain.
Meanwhile, the AIUDF is also considering putting up a 'strong candidate' in Samaguri to avenge the defeat of its chief Maulana Badrudin Ajmal, who represented Dhubri in the Lok Sabha for three consecutive terms. Ajmal lost to former Congress MLA Hussain by 10.12 lakh votes, the highest in the country.
BJP's Nagaon unit president Abhijit Nath said the byelection to Samaguri is a matter of prestige for the party. "Yes, it is a prestige issue for us as the Hussains are doing dynastic politics there. Rakibul Hussain's father represented it, and then Rakibul himself, and now they are giving tickets to Tanzil. People want a change, so it is a prestige issue for us," Nath said.
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