Congress divided over Goalpokhar Assembly candidate; Meeting fails to break deadlock

Raiganj: The North Dinajpur district Congress leadership is facing growing difficulties over the selection of a candidate for the Goalpokhar Assembly seat ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections, with party members divided into rival groups backing different aspirants.

A section of Congress leaders and workers is demanding that Ali Imran Ramz, popularly known as Victor, be nominated as the party candidate. Another faction is supporting Nasim Ahesan for the seat.

In an attempt to resolve the impasse, Mahammad Abdullha Sayed, a member of the All India Congress Committee and the party’s observer for North Dinajpur, held a meeting with district leaders in Islampur on Saturday. However, the rift over candidate selection reportedly remained unresolved.

According to party sources, Ramz has been projecting himself as the Congress candidate for the 2026 elections through media campaigns over the past few months and has also organised several public meetings in the Goalpokhar area.

Nafe Habib, a supporter of Ramz, said that Ramz had earlier been elected three times as an MLA from Chakulia while representing the Forward Bloc and enjoys considerable influence in Goalpokhar. “If he is nominated as the Congress candidate, he can win the seat by a margin of around 50,000 votes,” Habib claimed.

Responding to the demand, Ahesan said those backing Ramz were not genuine Congress workers. “Local residents have urged me to contest from Goalpokhar as the Congress candidate. However, I will contest only if the party’s higher leadership asks me to do so,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mahammad Alauddin, a Trinamool Congress leader from Goalpokhar, alleged that Ramz’s supporters had an understanding with the BJP. Reacting to the allegation, BJP leader Sibu Saha said the party was not concerned about who would be the Congress candidate. Mohit Sengupta, president of the North Dinajpur district Congress committee, said several leaders were aspiring to contest from the seat as people in Goalpokhar wanted a Congress candidate. “The final decision will be taken by the party’s higher leadership,” he added.

In a separate development, more than 100 BJP members reportedly joined the Trinamool Congress at Jhitkia village under the Bahin Gram Panchayat in Raiganj. Around 100 families from the Congress and CPI(M) in Baroganda village under Kamlabari-II Gram Panchayat also joined the

ruling party.