Assam: Congress alleges widespread rigging in Nagaon bypoll, seeks repoll at affected booths

Senior Congress leader and Dhubri MP Rakibul Hussain on October 7 accused the ruling BJP of rigging the Nagaon Lok Sabha bypoll and demanded repolling at polling stations where he alleged large-scale irregularities took place.

Addressing a press conference at Rajiv Bhawan in Nagaon, Hussain alleged that rigging took place at multiple polling stations in the Samaguri Assembly segment during Tuesday's polling.

He claimed that the BJP had attempted to “steal” the entire by-election process and alleged that the irregularities were particularly serious at several polling stations in Samaguri.

Hussain called upon the Election Commission to order fresh polling at booths where, according to him, the extent of alleged rigging was significant.

The Congress leader also criticised BJP candidate Devashish Sharma over the alleged irregularities and questioned the conduct of the election process.

The Nagaon District Congress Committee has submitted a complaint to the Election Commission of India, seeking action over the allegations and demanding appropriate intervention.

Hussain had earlier alleged that unidentified people in around 11 vehicles entered several polling stations in Samaguri and attempted to rig the election. He, however, did not provide details of all the polling stations or identify the people allegedly involved.

The allegations came a day after polling for the Nagaon Lok Sabha by-election ended with around 76 per cent turnout. Election officials said polling across the constituency's eight Assembly segments remained peaceful, with no major untoward incident reported. Minor EVM glitches were reported at some booths and the affected machines were replaced.

The Nagaon bypoll saw a three-way contest among BJP's Devashish Sharma, Congress' Sibamoni Bora and AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal. Counting of votes is scheduled for October 9.

The allegations of rigging raised by Hussain and the Congress have not been independently established. The Election Commission's response to the latest complaint was not immediately available.