Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma waves during an election rally in support of party candidate Debasish Sarma for the upcoming Nagaon Lok Sabha byelection at Singari, in Nagaon, on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: ANI
GUWAHATI
The campaign for the byelection to the Nagaon Lok Sabha seat in central Assam ended at 5 p.m. on Sunday (October 4, 2026), 48 hours before polling begins on October 6.
About 19.07 lakh voters in the Muslim-majority parliamentary constituency are expected to choose from 15 candidates, including nine Independents, although the contest is likely to be three-cornered.
The top three contenders are former bureaucrat Devasish Sharma of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), former MLA Sibamoni Bora of the Congress, and Mohammed Badruddin Ajmal, an MLA and the chief of the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF).
The bypoll became necessary after Pradyut Bordoloi, who won the Nagaon seat for the second successive time in 2024, quit the Congress and joined the BJP before the April 2026 Assembly election. He contested and won the Dispur Assembly seat.
The Nagaon bypoll campaign featured high-voltage rallies, roadshows, sharp political exchanges, allusions to food habits, and clashes, mostly between BJP and Congress supporters.
Biryani barbs
During one of his campaigns for the BJP candidate, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma likened Congress leader and Dhubri MP Rakibul Hussain, a Nagaon native, to Bakasura (a mythological stork-demon) for his appetite for biryani.
The MP hit back, saying he was born rich enough to eat biryani, unlike the Chief Minister, who survived on biscuits and got to see pulao and chicken after joining the Congress. Mr. Ajmal also chimed in, saying Mr. Hussain was “born eating dried fish, not biryani”.
Meanwhile, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said the Chief Minister would resemble Mr. Ajmal with a beard, adding, “one can see Himanta Biswa Sarma in Badruddin Ajmal’s eyes”. Mr. Gogoi also said the Chief Minister was a real-life Ghajini (a character played by Aamir Khan) who “forgets what he says every 15 minutes”.
During the last leg of the campaign, Mr. Sharma, the BJP candidate, filed a police case against Mr. Ajmal for accusing him of murdering Mumtaz Begum, one of two women from the Nagaon district allegedly pushed into Bangladesh in June. Mr. Sharma was the Nagaon District Commissioner at the time. He claimed he was just following a court order.
The Chief Minister underlined the importance of the Nagaon seat. He said a victory for the BJP would pave the way for the party and its allies to sweep all the 126 Assembly seats in the 2031 State polls. The BJP and its allies won 102 seats in April.
The votes will be counted on October 9.
Published – October 04, 2026 07:01 pm IST
