4 min readGuwahatiUpdated: Apr 11, 2026 04:17 AM IST
Three members of Assam Assembly election candidate Kunki Chowdhury’s team were detained by police after a case was registered against her and her campaign team for alleged violation of rules during the 48-hour “silent period” ahead of polling, which was held on Thursday (April 9).
Chowdhury is Congress-ally Assam Jatiya Parishad’s candidate from the Guwahati Central constituency. The 27-year-old is the youngest candidate in the fray in the Assam election. She has denied the allegations.
While she had drawn widespread attention as a young poll debutant going up against 70-year-old BJP candidate Vijay Gupta in the Guwahati Central contest, she particularly grabbed headlines when she and her family became the subject of repeated attacks by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Sarma has claimed that her family “insulted Hindus” by purportedly eating beef and sharing photos on social media, and that her mother “openly supported” Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam on social media.
In the early hours of Friday, after polling closed, Chowdhury issued a statement that three members of her team had been detained following an FIR against her and her social media team.
Confirming this, Central Guwahati DCP Shambhavi Mishra told The Indian Express that the three individuals were apprehended since they are not locals and “there was a possibility of them leaving the jurisdiction”.
“A complaint was filed alleging serious MCC (Model Code of Conduct) violations. The first is that 48 hours before polling, as per the rule, political functionaries and workers who have been brought from outside the constituency should leave the constituency. But her social media team members, who are from Haryana, were still going around with her, so they have been brought in to the police station to ensure they can’t leave before being questioned. They have not been arrested. The complaint also named the candidate, but since she is a local, she will be brought in for questioning later. The allegation is that she was still in campaigning mode yesterday, and other violations like taking her PSO to polling station areas,” the DCP said on Friday.
In a video statement, Chowdhury said, “We all know how much our BJP government follows democratic norms, we have all been seeing. The day my nomination was filed, we had planned a rally, but I cancelled all our arrangements respecting the SOP and went to file my nomination alone. On the day of polling, too, we strictly followed the election norms and adhered to the norms. Without any evidence, they are lodging these FIRs to harass and intimidate us. I will just say that they are taking these steps because they are scared.”
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Separately, police personnel on Friday conducted a search at the Dibrugarh residence of Assam Jatiya Parishad president Lurinjyoti Gogoi, who is the Opposition alliance’s candidate from the Khowang constituency.
AJP leader Chittaranjan Basumatary alleged that police searched the residence without disclosing the purpose of the search.
“The police did a search without a search notice (warrant) at Lurinjyoti Gogoi’s house, but we did not find out why they came. At first, there were around 30-40 police personnel at the gate, and our people tried to stop them, asking them to state what the case was first… Later, a more senior official came. We recorded the search and asked why a magistrate did not accompany them,” he said.
Dibruagrh SSP Gaurav Abhijit Dilip did not respond to calls from The Indian Express seeking comment. However, PTI quoted him as saying the action was in connection with “an incident” on polling day.
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“With regard to the incident that had happened in Khowang yesterday, following technical input, a police team reached the particular location and followed legal search procedure,” the SSP was quoted as saying.
