Anti-CAA activist Akhil Gogoi files his nomination; Urges people to oust BJP from state

GUWAHATI: Jailed activist and Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi today filed his nomination from the constituencies of Sibsagar and Mariani.

Akhil Gogoi submitted his nomination papers to the Returning Officer for the upcoming Assembly elections in Assam via video conferencing. An election team collected the nomination papers of Akhil Gogoi from the Gauhati Medical College Hospital (GMCH), where he is undergoing treatment.

According to sources, after submitting the nomination papers, Gogoi wrote a six-page letter addressed to the people of Assam where he claimed that he has been held captive by the BJP since December 2019.

In the letter, he further urged the people to be prepared and drive out the saffron party from the state in the upcoming 2021 elections. He mentioned that his party Raijor Dal is all set to teach BJP a lesson in the Assembly Elections. He also urged everyone to remember the five martyrs of the anti-CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act 2019) movement during the polling.

Meanwhile, a chaotic situation prevailed in the premises of the GMCH, where Gogoi's supporters demanded his release and shouted anti-BJP slogans. The security personnel had to chase away the supporters and beefed up security arrangements in the hospital.

Earlier on March 3, Akhil proposed all the opposition parties to field one common candidate against every BJP nominee, to defeat the BJP. He also offered not to contest the election and to unite the opposition against the BJP in the upcoming Assam Assembly Election 2021.

Gogoi who refrained from joining the grand alliance cited ideological differences with AIUDF that have garnered strong reactions coming in from different quarters.

However, today he stated that his comment was taken out of context and he is against communalism.

Raijor Dal will field 18 out of 86 seats in the first two phases of the elections "in order to stop the "division of the anti-BJP votes". The party will contest the election with its ally Assam Jatiya Parishad as a united regional front.

AJP president Lurinjyoti Gogoi too submitted his nominations today from Duliajan and Naharkatia constituencies.

Elections for the 126 seats will be held on March 27, April 1 and April 6.

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