Guwahati, Oct 4: The high-pitched campaign for the Nagaon Lok Sabha bypoll ended at 5 pm on Sunday, with the BJP, Congress and AIUDF making their final pitches and sharpening attacks on rivals ahead of the October 6 polling. On the final day, senior leaders of the three principal parties stepped up their campaign activities as campaigning ended and the constituency entered the silence period.

At a campaign meeting in Lahorighat, Assam minister and BJP leader Pijush Hazarika targeted Ajmal and Congress MLA Asif Mohammad Nazar while appealing to voters to support the BJP. Referring to Ajmal’s health, Hazarika said the AIUDF chief is “an ailing man” and “would not be able to work without assistance”.

“He is a respected person but is an ailing man and such a person will not be able to work. He has to be supported and helped by two people.

I would urge him to stop campaigning for elections and to seek treatment in Dubai,” Hazarika said. BJP state president Dilip Saikia and Finance Minister Jayanta Mallabaruah also joined the campaign in the Raha Assembly segment on the final day.

Saikia, addressing supporters after a “Vijay Sankalp Padyatra”, said, “People support BJP because they know the things that the party has been doing for them. All across the corner, there is only one chant, ‘We will choose Devasish Sharma for Nagaon bypolls’.”

Saikia also posted about his participation in the padyatra across booths 263-265 of Raha and a subsequent campaign meeting attended by Baruah. The Congress, meanwhile, held campaign meetings in Lahorighat and Raha in support of Sibamoni Bora.

At Lahorighat, APCC president Gaurav Gogoi, AICC secretary and Assam in-charge Manoj Chauhan, MLA Asif Mohammad Nazar and MLA Baby Begum joined Congress workers and supporters at an election meeting. The party said the gathering reflected its emphasis on “unity, harmony, democracy and development”.

The Congress also held a rally in Raha, where it claimed a strong turnout in support of Bora. Gogoi also sharpened his attack on AIUDF and Ajmal during the final-day campaign, alleging a close political relationship between Ajmal and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

“Maulana Badruddin Ajmal is the closest friend of Himanta Biswa Sarma in Assam politics,” Gogoi said, alleging that the AIUDF chief had functioned as the BJP’s “B Team”. Gogoi further claimed that the Nagaon bypoll would be AIUDF’s last election and alleged that the party would cease to exist after the polls.