GUWAHATI: Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi on Tuesday took moral responsibility for his party’s defeat in the Assembly elections, even as he expressed suspicion on the neutrality of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Addressing a press conference in Guwahati, Gogoi said the Congress had convened a meeting on Saturday with all its MLAs and election candidates to analyse the poll outcome.
“We will do an exhaustive and deep analysis. We will analyse the results in the state leadership on Saturday, and consequently, we will do it in the districts. Parallelly, we will go to the public. We will learn the important lessons from this election,” Gogoi said.
“I was the captain of the party as we headed into the elections. I take moral responsibility for our defeat,” he said, expressing gratitude to the people of the state and congratulating the winning parties.
He further stated that the Congress was finding it difficult to accept the results considering the encouragement and blessings it had received from people during election campaign.
“We have come to know from people that they could not believe the margins of defeats in many constituencies. Contrary to people’s and our expectations, we did not see neck to neck contests in those seats,” said Gogoi who lost from Upper Assam’s Jorhat constituency to the ruling BJP’s Hitendra Nath Goswami by 23,182 votes.
Taking on the ECI, he said many questions raised by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the past regarding the fairness, transparency and accuracy of the electoral process were never answered. He said the Congress would pursue all means possible to protect the integrity of the electoral process.
“My only concern is that the BJP leadership does not believe in a neutral and fair electoral process. They believe in one India, one party. And for that, they have to finish off other parties. The only way to weaken or finish off other parties is by completely destabilising the electoral process. That is leading India into a dangerous path,” Gogoi said, asserting that Rahul is a proud defender of the Indian democracy.
He further stated that the Congress would expect the new government to solve the problems of the people in the coming days, alleging that the BJP-led government has not worked the way it should have.
Citing the artificial flood problem in Guwahati, he said the Congress would expect the government to give more importance to people’s problems. “As a constructive Opposition party, we will continue to raise people’s issues. We may have won a low number of seats but our spirit is not low,” he asserted.