Congress demands re-election over alleged Panchayat poll irregularities
Congress accused officials of manipulating the selection process for panchayat presidents in Daipam, Baligaon and No 5 Baruajhar Gaon Panchayats under Dalgaon revenue circle;

A shot of a gram panchayat sabha (Photo:@RuralAssam / X)
Guwahati, July 5: Principal opposition Congress party on Friday alleged irregularities in the selection of panchayat presidents in Daipam, Baligaon, and No. 5 Baruajhar Gaon Panchayats (GPs) under Dalgaon revenue circle.
A delegation of Congress party leaders, led by the Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly Debabrata Saikia, met the Additional Chief Secretary, Panchayat and Rural Development Department, here today and submitted a memorandum in this regard.
The Congress party alleged that in Baligaon GP, six out of the 10 ward members supported Rifina Wahida Akhtara for the post of president.
"Despite having a clear majority, the Circle Officer (Dalgaon) declared the opposing party's candidate as president, disregarding the democratic process and majority rule," it alleged.
With regard to No. 5 Baruajhar GP, the Congress party stated that six members out of 10 ward members were in favour of Dilowara Begum.
"After oath taking, when the six members raised their hands in support, the officials suddenly decided to conduct a secret ballot in a separate room without a sealed ballot box, which raised doubts about transparency. When the majority members protested, they were forcefully removed from the hall by using undue force and lathi charge. Subsequently, the officials unlawfully can-celled the voting process and declared the minority four ward members' candidate as the president, showing clear bias and abuse of power," the memorandum stated.
It added, "The same pattern of irregularities was repeated in the Daipam GP, where six ward members, noticing similar unfair practices, walked out of the voting hall in protest to uphold the sanctity of democratic values."
The Congress delegation said that "such actions by the Circle Officer of Dalgaon revenue circle, the Co-District Commissioner of Dalgaon, and the DSP of Darrang involved in the process have caused unrest and distrust among the elected representatives and the general public".
The party also demanded strict action against the officials responsible and sought that "a fair re-election or proper re-conduct of the selection process be held un-der neutral supervision"