BJP wins Nagaon Lok Sabha seat in Assam after seven years

BJP wins Nagaon bypoll in Assam

The Bharatiya Janata Party has reclaimed the Nagaon Lok Sabha seat in Assam after seven years, securing a decisive victory in the parliamentary by-election as the Congress party fell to third place.

BJP candidate Devashish Sharma, a recently retired IAS officer who served as Nagaon's deputy commissioner until his retirement, won the seat with 714,349 votes. He defeated All India United Democratic Front chief Badruddin Ajmal by a margin of 142,224 votes. Congress candidate Sibamoni Bora finished far behind in third place with 129,492 votes.

Why the Nagaon bypoll was held

The by-election was necessitated after sitting Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi resigned from the party in March to join the BJP. Bordoloi subsequently contested and won an assembly election from the Dispur constituency on a BJP ticket, leaving the Nagaon seat vacant.

Voting in the central Assam constituency took place on October 6. The parliamentary constituency encompasses eight assembly segments spanning Nagaon and neighbouring Morigaon district, where Sharma had also previously served as deputy commissioner.

Shift in minority votes and political fallout

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership following the victory, writing on X that voters had delivered a decisive verdict and rejected Congress. During campaigning last month, Sarma had claimed that a BJP victory in Nagaon would position the ruling alliance to win all 126 assembly seats in the 2031 state elections.

AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal, who polled 572,125 votes, said after the result that minority voters who previously divided their support between his party and Congress had backed AIUDF in this contest.

Political analysts noted that Congress suffered from a weak organisational setup and a candidate who failed to build traction, allowing both the BJP and AIUDF to reclaim ground in the constituency.