AICC reviews Assam 2026 poll plan; organisational reach, Zubeen probe on table

Guwahati, Dec 2: The Congress high command reviewed the party’s preparations for the 2026 Assam Assembly elections at a meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday.

The top brass of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), including President Mallikarjun Kharge and LoP in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, met with a team of Assam Congress led by APCC chief Gaurav Gogoi.

The strategy session, held at the AICC headquarters, focused on the party’s organisational reach and political roadmap in the run-up to the 2026 polls.

“We had a long discussion on people’s issues and how we addressed them during the just-concluded Winter Session of the Assam Assembly. They (Kharge and Gandhi) also took stock of how well we are fulfilling our individual responsibilities in the state,” Gogoi told the press after the meeting.

Gogoi added that the leadership, satisfied with the team’s performance, assured full support to further the party’s “BJP-free” agenda.

“The high command has assured its help to fulfil the people’s dream of a BJP-mukt Assam and will be more involved in realising that vision in the coming days,” he said.

He also said Gandhi had specifically asked about the progress of the probe into cultural icon Zubeen Garg’s mysterious death.

“It is heartening to see Rahul Gandhi asking about how much progress has been made and whether the people of Assam have been apprised of the findings,” Gogoi noted.

Gogoi, however, sidestepped questions on the Asom Sonmilito Morcha, saying only that “a lot of things have been discussed,” and “I don’t think I am entitled to tell the press everything.”

The meeting comes days after the Assam Assembly wrapped up its Winter Session and amid the “Special Revision” of electoral rolls in the state.

The issue has triggered uproar in the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament, with the Opposition, led by the Congress, demanding a discussion on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the rolls.

Last week, at a meeting in his home constituency, Jorhat on November 27, Gogoi had alleged serious lapses in the electoral roll revision process and large-scale land transfers affecting indigenous and tribal communities.

Addressing the press at the Jorhat District Congress Bhawan, he had said, “Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma has brought BJP workers from outside Assam and included their names in the voters’ list. This means the Assam Assembly election is no longer decided by the people of Assam, but by outsiders.”

Earlier, the Election Commission had issued special instructions while announcing the SIR for Assam, terming it a “Special Revision”.

The move, officials said, was tailored to Assam’s unique legal and procedural circumstances linked to the citizenship framework and the Supreme Court–monitored National Register of Citizens (NRC) process.