Jailed rights activist Akhil Gogoi on Monday submitted nomination papers for the Sivasagar and Mariani Assembly constituencies from the Gauhati Medical College Hospital (GMCH).
Gogoi is the president of Raijor Dal, a new regional party formed almost at the same time as its ally, Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) six months ago.
An election team collected Gogoi’s papers from the hospital where he filed his nominations to the returning officers via video-conference. He is brought to the hospital from the central jail on the outskirts of Guwahati for periodic check-ups.
Soon after submitting his papers, Gogoi wrote a six-page letter addressed to the people of Assam, claiming he has been held captive by the BJP-led government since December 2019.
“It is time to perform the BJP’s visarjan [immersion]. You, the people of Assam should come out to defeat the traitorous BJP. Together, we will have to drive out the BJP from power at any cost. Raijor Dal is all set to teach the saffron party a lesson for selling the country in the upcoming elections,” he said in the handwritten letter.
The police had, prior to the nomination, chased his supporters away from the GMCH for shouting anti-BJP slogans.
AJP president Lurinjyoti Gogoi too submitted his nominations from Duliajan and Naharkatia constituencies on Monday.
“The people of Assam will give a befitting reply to the BJP government this time. My victory in both the constituencies is confirmed,” he said after filing his papers.
All the four constituencies that the presidents of the two regional parties are contesting are in eastern Assam, where the first phase of polling is on March 27.
‘AGP for development’
Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) president Atul Bora also filed his nomination papers from Bokhkhat on Monday.
Later, at a party rally attended by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, he said no other party or alliance apart from that of AGP-BJP and their allies were committed to Assam’s development.
“No government has ensured speedy development as much as the Sonowal government. All the Congress did was pamper illegal migrants for vote bank politics at the cost of the security of Assam and its indigenous communities. One should keep this in mind,” he said.
Among others who filed their nominations on Monday was Ajanta Neog, a former Congress Minister who joined the BJP in December 2020.
Sonowal will file his papers from “island” constituency Majuli on Tuesday.
