Guwahati (Assam): Jailed RTI activist and prominent farmers' leader Akhil Gogoi on Sunday created history by becoming the first person in Assam to have contested and won an election from the isolated ward of jail. Needless to say, he could not campaign for a single day.
He also sprang a surprise by defeating BJP candidate Surabhi Rajkonwari for whom Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself had campaigned. Gogoi also pipped Congress candidate Subhramitra Gogoi. In the 2016 Assembly elections, Pranab Kumar Gogoi of the Congress had won from this seat against Rajkonwar.
While Gogoi polled 57,173 votes, Rajkonwari and Subhamitra Gogoi could only manage 45,394 and 19,323 votes respectively.
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Gogoi was arrested in December 2019 after the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests turned violent in Assam. He has been languishing in jail since then. He was shifted to a confined cell of the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) after being tested COVID positive in jail.
After his arrest, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had taken his custody in a case pertaining to his alleged nexus with Maoists.
His colleagues in the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), a leading pressure group in the state, had floated Raijor Dal, a new political party just ahead of the 2021 elections and requested him to contest the elections from jail. Gogoi had filed his nomination papers from the isolated ward of GMCH.
People of the Sivsagar constituency expressed their happiness over the victory of the jailed activist and termed this a 'victory of democracy'. Known for his stand and resolve against corruption, Gogoi had played major role in the movement against the construction of big power projects in Assam.
