A Congress candidate arrested twice for alleged involvement in rhino poaching has won the gram panchayat president’s seat from Suwaguri in northeastern Assam’s Biswanath district.
The victory of Dilwar Hussain has left the Congress red-faced. Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia, who represents the Congress from the Nazira seat, said this was “unfortunate” and blamed it on a technical glitch. “I don’t know how this happened. We had cancelled his candidature. Any decision will be taken by the party president,” Mr. Saikia said.
Before the elections, Assam Congress president Ripun Bora had said the party had rejected Mr. Hussain’s candidature.
Mr. Hussain was allegedly involved in killing of rhinos at the Kaziranga National Park in 2011, and a case had been registered against him.
