The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has wrested the Nagaon Lok Sabha seat from the Congress following a by-election, marking a significant political shift in the region after seven years. BJP candidate Devashish Sharma, a recently retired IAS officer who formerly served as the deputy commissioner of Nagaon, secured 714,349 votes to emerge victorious. He defeated All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief Badruddin Ajmal, who finished in second place with 572,125 votes, by a margin of 142,224 votes.
The Congress party, which previously held the seat, saw its candidate Sibamoni Bora finish in third place with 129,492 votes. The by-election in this minority-dominated constituency was necessitated after the sitting Congress MP, Pradyut Bordoloi, resigned from the party in March to join the BJP, later winning an assembly seat from Dispur on a BJP ticket. Polling for the vacancy took place on October 6.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma celebrated the result on social media, attributing the win to the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During the campaign, the Chief Minister had expressed confidence in the party's growth, suggesting that a victory in Nagaon would bolster the BJP's prospects for the 2031 assembly elections.
Analysts have pointed to shifting voter dynamics in the region. Akhil Ranjan Dutta, a professor of political science at Gauhati University, noted that the results suggest a portion of the Muslim community has become more aligned with the incumbent government, potentially due to the influence of state-led populist schemes. Meanwhile, Badruddin Ajmal claimed that minority votes, which were previously split between his party and the Congress, shifted in a way that benefited his electoral performance compared to the 2024 Dhubri seat results. Following the setback, other political figures, such as Akhil Gogoi, have publicly criticised the Congress, citing a lack of organizational effort and candidate credibility as factors for the party's third-place finish.
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