Dilwar Hussain, a wanted rhino poacher from Suwaguri village in Assam's Biswanath district, has won the Assam panchayat polls by a margin of 240 votes. Hussain won on a Congress ticket.
Hussain, hailing from Suwaguri village, was twice arrested for his alleged involvement in rhino killing incidents and is currently out on bail. He was first arrested for alleged involvement in 2011 Kaziranga National Park rhino poaching case.
A case (no - 316/2011) was registered against Dilwar at Biswanath police station. He was again arrested by police following another rhino poached at Naharoni area in 2012. On September 28, 2018, the court had directed the state forest department to probe into these rhino poaching incidents under the Wildlife Protection Act.
Assam Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Apurba Bhattacharya said, "It is very unfortunate. APCC had already sent a letter to the Deputy Commissioner of Biswanath district and Election officer of Biswanath district to cancel his candidature. APCC had taken necessary action when the matter was noticed."
Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) President Ripun Bora had earlier announced that Dilwar Hussain's candidature has been rejected by the party.
In his defence, Hussain said, "I am innocent. It is a political conspiracy against me. A case was registered against me and it is going on, but I am just an accused person, not a convicted person."
Apart from Congress, Assam's regional political party Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), an ally party of the BJP-led Assam government had also picked up another most wanted rhino poacher and awarded poll candidature to contest the seat of Moridhansiri Gram Panchayat President under Bokakhat assembly constituency in Golaghat district.
Ganesh Doley, who contested in the rural polls on AGP ticket and served a jail term for his alleged involvement in rhino poaching incidents and illegal wildlife trade, lost to a BJP candidate in the polls.
Ganesh Doley was first arrested by police in 2012 for his alleged involvement in rhino poaching incident in Kaziranga National Park.
