BJP fields ex-IAS officer Debasish Sharma for Nagaon LS bypoll

Guwahati: The political battle for Assam’s Nagaon Lok Sabha seat has entered a fresh phase after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) named former bureaucrat Debasish Sharma as its candidate for the October 6 by-election.

The BJP, in an official communication from the central headquarters in New Delhi and signed by in-charge Tarun Chugh, said that the party has chosen Debasish Sharma as its candidate for Nagaon Lok Sabha seat.

The BJP’s announcement comes months after the dramatic political exit of former Nagaon MP Pradyut Bordoloi from the Congress.

Bordoloi resigned from the Congress in March and subsequently joined the BJP ahead of the Assam Assembly elections. He later contested from Dispur and won the Assembly seat, leaving the Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency vacant.

The Election Commission has scheduled the Nagaon bypoll for October 6, with counting on October 9.

Now, the BJP has chosen Debasish Sharma, a former IAS officer and former Nagaon Deputy Commissioner, to contest the seat.

Sharma took voluntary retirement from government service earlier this month and joined the BJP on September 9, immediately triggering speculation that he could be the party’s Nagaon candidate. The Congress approached the Election Commission and filed a formal complaint against Sharma regarding administrative irregularities and questions over his political ambitions ahead of the bypoll.

The BJP’s choice gives the contest an interesting administrative-versus-political dimension. Sharma has a direct administrative association with Nagaon, while Bordoloi’s exit has already changed the political equation around the constituency.

For the Congress, the challenge is to retain a seat it won in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. For the BJP, the bypoll presents an opportunity to convert Bordoloi’s political switch and organisational expansion in Assam into an electoral gain.

With nominations closing on September 16, the Nagaon contest is now set for a high-stakes battle.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

IANS

[email protected]