Sibamoni Bora: From BDO to MLA, Congress challenger to Devasish Sharma in Nagaon bypoll

The Congress has named former Batadroba MLA Sibamoni Bora as its candidate for the upcoming Nagaon Lok Sabha by-election, setting up a contest with BJP nominee and former IAS officer Devasish Sharma.

Bora, a former Block Development Officer (BDO), made her electoral debut in the 2021 Assam Assembly elections and emerged as one of Congress' notable winners that year. Contesting from Batadroba, she defeated sitting BJP MLA and actor-turned-politician Angoorlata Deka by 32,820 votes.

Bora polled 84,278 votes, securing around 60 per cent of the votes in the constituency and delivering a significant victory for the Congress in a seat that had been represented by Deka.

A postgraduate, Bora had entered electoral politics after serving as a government official. Her administrative background and political lineage have remained important parts of her public profile.

Bora comes from a politically influential family in Assam. She is the daughter of Kiran Bora, who had earlier represented Batadroba in the state Assembly. She is also the daughter-in-law of Golap Borbora, Assam's first non-Congress chief minister.

Her 2021 victory marked the beginning of her own electoral career, with Bora defeating Deka in a closely watched contest. She subsequently represented Congress in the 15th Assam Legislative Assembly.

However, the political map of the area changed following the 2023 delimitation exercise, under which the erstwhile Batadroba Assembly constituency was abolished. The area was incorporated into the Nagaon-Batadraba Assembly constituency.

Now, Bora is returning to electoral politics on a larger stage, with the Congress fielding her from the Nagaon Lok Sabha seat.

The bypoll has assumed significance for both the Congress and the BJP, with the ruling party naming Devasish Sharma, a former IAS officer and former Nagaon deputy commissioner, as its candidate.

Sharma took voluntary retirement from the civil service before entering electoral politics and was subsequently chosen by the BJP to contest the Nagaon seat.

Sharma's stint as the DC gives him a degree of familiarity among voters and political workers in the constituency.

For the Congress, Bora's selection brings together administrative experience, a previous Assembly victory and a strong political family background. Her candidature also gives the party a familiar face from the Nagaon-Batadraba region as it seeks to challenge the BJP in the bypoll.

The Nagaon contest is therefore shaping up as a battle between two candidates with markedly different political trajectories — Bora, a former bureaucrat who entered electoral politics through the Congress and won a high-profile Assembly contest in 2021, and Sharma, a former IAS officer making his electoral debut with the BJP.

The bypoll will be held on October 6, with counting scheduled for October 9.

Naogaon is among Assam's 14 Lok Sabha constituencies. The Nagaon parliamentary constituency covers Morigaon district and five of the seven Assembly segments in Nagaon district.

The Nagaon LS seat fell vacant after Pradyut Bordoloi, who had won the constituency for the Congress in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, resigned ahead of the 2026 Assam Assembly polls and joined the BJP. He subsequently contested the Dispur Assembly seat, which he won. 

Bordoloi had won the Nagaon seat in 2019 too.