Guwahati: Pre-poll violence has gripped Central Assam's Samaguri constituency where one person was killed, police said on Friday.
Police said that one Bipul Saikia, who was seriously injured during the clash between the BJP and Congress workers at a Bormar Bhogamur area of Samaguri constituency, died at his residence at Bajiagaon on Friday.
A group of BJP and Congress workers clashed in the Bormar Bhogamur area on Thursday afternoon. The clash broke out as some people, allegedly identified as BJP workers, obstructed the rally of Congress candidate Tanjil Hussain, which was passing through the area, they said.
The deceased, who was a BJP worker, received serious injuries during the clash. While a police team rescued him and dropped him at his residence in Bajiagaon after treatment, Saikia was found dead at his residence on Friday, police added.
While the saffron party has given tickets to one of its general secretaries and youth leader Dipluranjan Sarma, Congress has fielded Tanjil Hussain, a young leader and son of Lok Sabha MP from Dhubri, Rakibul Hussain.
Samaguri had been a forte of the Congress and Rakibul Hussain had retained the seat consecutively for the last five terms. A by-election was necessitated in the constituency after Rakibul Hussain contested the Lok Sabha elections from Dhubri earlier this year and won.
"Saikia was injured during the clash between the Congress and BJP workers on Thursday," police said adding that an investigation is on to ascertain how the deceased was injured that led to his death.
For the ruling BJP, by-election to the Samaguri constituency is of prime importance due to the saffron party's poor performance in Central and Upper Assam in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP failed to win the Kaliabor Lok Sabha constituency despite going all guns blazing against Congress' Gaurav Gogoi.
The saffron party has also failed to perform well in the Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency which was retained by the Congress in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency was, however, a forte of the saffron party till it lost the seat to Congress in 2019. BJP's Rajen Gohain held the Nagaon Lok Sabha seat for four consecutive terms from 1999 to 2019.
For the Congress, Samaguri is a forte. Former Assam Minister and current Lok Sabha MP from Dhubri Rakibul Hussain had retained the Samaguri assembly seat for the last 23 years. Hussain vacated the seat earlier this year after he successfully contested the Dhubri Lok Sabha seat.
Although the opposition party is yet to formally declare its candidate, the grand old party is likely to give the party ticket to Tanzil Hussain, son of Rakibul Hussain, to contest from the Samurai.
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