Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi on Saturday called upon party workers to begin preparations for the 2029 Lok Sabha elections immediately, stressing the need for sustained grassroots engagement and stronger organisational outreach.
Addressing party workers after a detailed review of the Congress party’s performance in the recent Assam Assembly elections, Gogoi said the party must intensify its role in highlighting public grievances and holding the government accountable.
“The responsibility of standing beside the people of Assam, highlighting their problems and pointing out the wrong policies of the government has now increased significantly,” he said.
He urged workers to start preparing “from today itself” for the 2029 Lok Sabha polls, adding that the party would soon launch public outreach programmes following a comprehensive internal review. He also said extensive discussions with frontal and affiliated organisations would begin from next Monday, with the responsibility assigned to the party’s general secretary for immediate follow-up action.
Speaking to reporters before the review meeting, Gogoi said the Congress had taken the election results “very seriously” and accepted collective responsibility for the outcome.
“As president of the Pradesh Congress, I accept the moral responsibility for the overall election results. I have appealed to the central leadership that whatever suggestions they provide regarding our organisational foundation or strategy, we will accept them,” he said.
The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC), in its special review meeting, undertook an in-depth analysis of the party’s performance. According to a statement, discussions focused on reasons for Congress candidates losing despite securing higher vote shares in many constituencies compared to 2021.
The meeting also examined several concerns, including alleged bias by the Election Commission in favour of the ruling party, politicisation of beneficiary schemes, alleged discrepancies in EVMs, and organisational weaknesses within the Congress structure.
Gogoi also raised concerns over electronic voting machines, questioning their functioning and reliability.
“We wanted to know what kind of battery or technology exists inside the EVMs that the charge never decreases. Even after such a long time, the battery percentage does not go down,” he said, adding that there were “many doubts regarding the voter list” which the party had repeatedly flagged.
AICC general secretary Jitendra Singh, who had earlier resigned as the party’s in-charge for Assam following the election results, expressed gratitude to Congress candidates for contesting “despite severe challenges” in what he described as a battle to safeguard democracy.
In the 126-member Assam Assembly, the Congress managed to win 19 seats, emerging as the single largest opposition party.
(With inputs from PTI)