As Assamprepares to head to the polls on April 9, 2026, the political atmosphere in Guwahati has shifted from stump speeches to a high-stakes paper trail. In a scathing press conference on Sunday, Congress leader Pawan Khera leveled explosive allegations against BJP’sChief Minister in Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, claiming a massive lack of property disclosure in his mandatory election affidavit.
In the conference, Khera claimed that Assam CM’s wife, Riniki Sarma owns two expensive properties in Dubai and a company registered in Wyoming, United States, with a budget of USD 34.67 billion (approximately ₹52,000 crore) with interests in the American hotel industry.
Khera claimed the firm has a staggering budget of $34.67 billion “It is clearly written in the documents—Property owner: Rinki Bhuiyan Sarma,” Khera stated, showing papers he claimed were verified over two days.
“Many people hold properties abroad, but when a spouse contests elections, they must disclose them in the affidavit. Why is there no mention of these Dubai properties in Himanta ji’s filing?”
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The citizenship question
Following up on his financial allegations, Khera mentioned that Riniki Sarma currently holds 3 active passports from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, and Antigua and Barbuda. He further used this information to question whether Riniki is even an Indian citizen as national laws don’t allow for a dual-citizenship.
Khera described this report as the ‘biggest exposure of electoral misrepresentation done by a sitting CM’ and demanded the arrest and disqualification of Himanta Biswa Sarma from the forthcoming Assembly elections.
Talking about the source of his allegations, the senior congress leader claimed that the information was compiled by the parties’ associates from abroad. Following the presser, Khera also requested Union Home Minister Amit Shah to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the claims.
Assam CM to counter with lawsuit
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was quick to hit back on Khera’s claims. Taking to X, he dismissed the entire press conference as a disgusting move that was prompted by “deep frustration and panic” within the Congress. In a detailed post on X, the CM pointed out what he called “glaring inconsistencies” in the documents Khera presented.
Some of the factual errors pointed out by the Assam CM have been listed below:
Surname Mismatches: The documents allegedly use “SARMA” instead of the official “SHARMA.”
Photo Discrepancies: Claims that the passport photos shown were publicly available images rather than standard biometric captures.
Spelling Errors: Sarma noted the Egyptian passport ironically spelled the country as “Egyptiann.”
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He noted that the UAE ID showed a nationality discrepancy, the Egyptian passport contained spelling mistakes and incorrect references, and the Antigua and Barbuda passport had conflicting expiry dates.
“My wife and I will be filing both criminal and civil defamation cases within the next 48 hours,” Sarma vowed, adding that Khera would eventually “face the law” for spreading fabricated misinformation.
“Truth will prevail. Those spreading misinformation will be held accountable. I am confident that Pawan Khera’s campaign of falsehood is nearing its end. Eventually, Mr. Khera will go to jail,” Sarma concluded in his remarks on X.
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