West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led All India Trinamool Congress on Saturday issued its first list of 17 candidates for the Assam Assembly elections and fielded Jiten Nag from Digboi, Tapas Das from Udharbond, Mominur Islam from Bilasipara, Rajan Chouhan from Gorewar, and Dulu Ahmed from Chamaria. As per the TMC list, Udangsri Narzary has been fielded from Baokhungri, Arif Akhtar Ahmed from Jaleswar, Fazlut Rahman Laskar from Katigorah), and Shahjahan Laskar from Sonai among others.
Congress releases fourth list of 7 candidates for Assam polls
In the meantime, the Congress has released its fourth list of seven party candidates for the April 9 Assembly elections in Assam, dropping a sitting MLA, while leaving 11 seats for its alliance partner Raijor Dal.
With this, the Congress has announced a total of 94 party candidates for the 126-member Assam Assembly elections, which it is contesting as part of a six-party alliance. The party had earlier announced that it would leave 15 seats for its allies.
The party's Central Election Committee selected the candidates for the elections to the 126-member Assam Legislative Assembly. Incumbent MLA Bhaskar Baruah from Titabor has been replaced by Pran Kurmi.
Titabor, adjoining Jorhat constituency from where state Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi is contesting, has traditionally been a stronghold of the Gogoi family, with former chief minister Tarun Gogoi having represented it earlier.
The party named Bidisha Neog to take on Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in Jalukbari. Former state NSUI president Joy Prakash Das will contest from Nowboicha, while Udalguri district Youth Congress chief Rohit Pariga will contest from Tangla. Gyandip Mohan has been fielded from Mahmora. The other candidates announced are Jayanta Borah from Biswanath and Rahul Roy from Hailakandi.
The seats left for alliance partner Raijor Dal include Manas, Dalgaon, Dhing, Kaliabor, Tezpur, Sissibargaon, Margherita, Digboi, Sibsagar, Mariani and Bokakhat.
The Congress had released its third list of 22 candidates on Thursday, which included four sitting MLAs, two of whom are working presidents of the state unit. The first list of 42 candidates was announced on March 3, followed by another list of 23 aspirants on March 14.
The Congress is leading an alliance of opposition parties – Raijor Dal, CPI(M), Assam Jatiya Parishad, CPI (ML) Liberation and All Party Hill Leaders Conference.
Among its candidates named previously are Gaurav Gogoi from Jorhat, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Debabrata Saikia from Nazira and former Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Ripun Bora from Barchalla.
NDA to fight on 89 seats in Assam
Apart from this, the NDA candidate lineup showed the BJP contesting 89 seats, the Asom Gana Parishad fielding candidates in 26 constituencies, and the Bodoland People's Front in 11 seats.
It should be noted that the polling for the Assam Assembly elections is scheduled for April 9, with vote counting set for May 4. The primary fight in Assam is expected to be between the ruling BJP-led NDA and the Congress-led alliance.
Also Read:
Assam Elections: Congress releases fourth list of seven candidates, keeps 11 seats for Raijor Dal
