Assam's election day achieved a rare trifecta: a Congress candidate smashed an EVM with his bare hands, a BJP councillor entered a polling booth twice uninvited during a malfunction, and 30 people were hospitalized — all while the state proudly recorded 85.91% voter turnout. Democracy is alive; the voters are in the hospital.
April 9, 2026 will go down in Assam's electoral history as the day democracy went full contact sport. In Patharkandi constituency, Congress candidate Kartik Sena Sinha stormed into the Rangamati polling booth, accused officials of allowing fake voters, and when the presiding officer disagreed, proceeded to smash the Electronic Voting Machine — the political equivalent of flipping the board when you're losing at chess. The resulting melee left 25 people injured and suspended voting for three hours until a replacement EVM was sourced. Meanwhile, 300 kilometers away in Guwahati, BJP councillor Meghna Hazarika was caught entering the South Sarania polling station without authorization during an EVM malfunction — not once, but twice — before outraged voters physically ejected her. The Election Commission, displaying its trademark composure, ordered a re-poll at Karimganj North after clashes between BJP and Congress supporters rendered the results at booth 239 meaningless. Through all of this, Assam recorded a proud 85.91% voter turnout, proving that nothing — not broken machines, not brawling candidates, not unauthorized councillors — can stop Indians from exercising their franchise, or at least trying to.