Assam Congress MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha has attributed the party’s defeat in the Samaguri by-election to the arrogance of Dhubri MP Rakibul Hussain. Purkayastha, who had contested the previous Assam Assembly elections on a Congress ticket but later extended his support to the BJP, claimed that Hussain’s growing arrogance and neglect of voters contributed to widespread dissatisfaction in the constituency.

“I have known Rakibul Hussain for a long time. His arrogance has increased over the years. Voters were mistreated when they approached him, which led to Congress’s loss in Samaguri,” Purkayastha told IANS.

The Samaguri by-election was one of five constituencies in Assam that went to polls after the election of their respective legislators to the Lok Sabha earlier this year. Congress, which contested all five seats, failed to secure any victory. In Samaguri, BJP’s Diplu Ranjan Sarmah defeated Rakibul Hussain’s son, Tanzil Hussain.

Hussain, who vacated the Samaguri seat after winning the Lok Sabha election, claimed that the Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma used administrative machinery to rig the election. He asserted that Congress had been leading in several areas of Samaguri before the alleged rigging took place.

Hussain also criticized Sarma for focusing on securing religious minority votes, warning that such strategies could harm the BJP’s prospects in the 2026 Assam Assembly elections, drawing a parallel to the Asom Gana Parishad’s downfall when it courted Muslim voters in the past.