The polling for the assembly elections in Assam will be held in a single phase on April 9. This coincides with the voting in Kerala and the union territory (UT) of Puducherry. The northeast state, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been in power since 2016, has a total of 126 assembly constituencies, including the Binnakandi seat.
The Binnakandi assembly constituency was established in 2023, and this will be the first time when the polling would be held on this seat. The Binnakandi seat is a part of the Hojai district, and it comes under the Kaziranga Lok Sabha constituency, which includes nine other assembly constituencies.
AGP vs AJP vs AIUDF contest
The political pundits are keeping an eye on this constituency, as All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) president Badruddin Ajmal is contesting from this seat. But Ajmal will face a tough challenge Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) candidate Sahabuddin Mazumdar and Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) leader Rejaul Karim Chowdhury. This triangular contest has made the elections in Binnakandi interesting.
It is worth noting that AJP is in an alliance with Congress, while the AGP is part of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Despite all this, Ajmal is confident of his victory. He has also asserted that the AIUDF, founded in 2005, will win around 25 of the 30 seats it is contesting. "We want to remove the BJP. I urge all non-BJP parties to join together and try to remove the BJP," he had told recently, while speaking to news agency ANI.
BJP seeks a third term, Congress aims to regain power
In Assam, the BJP, under the leadership of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, is looking for a third straight term. The party has been in power in Assam since 2016. In the previous elections in 2021, the saffron party had won 60 seats and formed the government with support of its alliance partners.
Coming to Congress, Assam was grand old party's bastion once. Under Tarun Gogoi, the party was in power here from 2001 to 2016. But now nearly a decade after remaining in the opposition, the Congress is looking to reclaim lost ground. For this, the party is contesting the elections under the leadership of Gogoi's son Gaurav Gogoi, who has been fielded from the Jorhat assembly constituency.
