Akhil Gogoi’s Facebook lives are ‘for entertainment’, shouldn’t be taken seriously: Himanta on voter list allegations

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on January 6, took a sharp swipe at Raijor Dal MLA Akhil Gogoi, remarking that Gogoi’s Facebook Live sessions and press briefings should be seen as “entertainment” and not taken seriously.

“People enjoy his Facebook Live sessions. If you are sad, watch his live. Just like people listen to songs after work to relax, one can listen to Akhil Gogoi’s press meets and Facebook Lives at night for refreshment,” the Chief Minister said while addressing a public gathering in Bokakhat.

Sarma made the remarks while distributing cheques under the Chief Minister’s Women Entrepreneurship (Udhyamita) Scheme in the Bokakhat Assembly constituency.

The comments came a day after Akhil Gogoi, the MLA from Sivasagar, made serious allegations against the BJP leadership, claiming that senior party leaders were conspiring to manipulate the ongoing Special Revision (SR) of electoral rolls ahead of the 2026 Assam Assembly elections.

In a live interaction on social media on January 5, Gogoi alleged that he came across a video conference on January 4 involving Assam BJP state president Dilip Saikia, ministers, MLAs and other party leaders. According to Gogoi, the meeting was officially meant to discuss preparations for a wall-writing campaign but also included discussions on voter lists.
“I was shocked by what I heard. I could not sleep the entire night after listening to that meeting,” Gogoi said, claiming he heard the discussion “with my own ears.”

Gogoi alleged that Dilip Saikia directed minister Ashok Singhal to oversee voter list “corrections” in 60 Assembly constituencies with the objective of deleting the names of voters who do not support the BJP. He further claimed that BJP MLAs, district presidents and mandal presidents were instructed to submit booth-wise lists of such voters by January 12.

Accusing the BJP of attempting to “engineer the Assam voter list according to its own convenience,” Gogoi said the alleged instructions amounted to a direct assault on democracy and the integrity of the electoral process. He challenged Chief Minister Sarma to publicly release the video recording of the January 4 meeting if the allegations were incorrect.

During his Bokakhat address, Sarma also referred to elections, saying that minor incidents of clashes are common during poll season. “If there are no clashes or offices are not vandalised, how will people know that elections have arrived?” he remarked.

The Chief Minister also spoke on welfare initiatives, including the Udhyamita and Orunodoi schemes, land encroachment drives, wildlife protection in Kaziranga, and alleged atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh.