Stage set for second phase of polling in Assam; focus on Barak, hill districts
Prominent candidates in the second phase include Parimal Suklabaidya (Dholai), Pijush Hazarika (Jagiroad), Bhabesh Kalita (Rangia), all ministers in the BJP-led government, and the assembly deputy speaker Aminul Haque Laskar (Sonai) — all four are from the saffron party
The stage is set for the second phase of the ongoing assembly election in Assam in which 39 of the 126 seats will go to polls on Thursday.
Over 7.3 million voters will decide the fates of 345 candidates (26 women) in 13 districts which will go to polls on April 1. In the first phase, polling had taken place in 47 seats in 12 districts on March 27.
Prominent candidates in the second phase include Parimal Suklabaidya (Dholai), Pijush Hazarika (Jagiroad), Bhabesh Kalita (Rangia), all ministers in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government, and the assembly deputy speaker Aminul Haque Laskar (Sonai). All of them are from the BJP.
The high voltage campaign that saw bigwigs from BJP and Congress touring the state several times in the past week ended on a damp note on Tuesday due to inclement weather.
Like in the first phase, Congress reiterated its commitment to fulfil all five guarantees it made to voters while BJP warned voters about a likely threat to Assam’s culture and identity if Congress and its alliance partner All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) came to power.
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“We won’t allow Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) to be implemented in Assam. It is the first of our five guarantees for people of Assam. The legislation is an attack on Assam’s language, history and culture,” senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said in a video message to Assam’s voters on Tuesday.
He also listed the other four guarantees -- government jobs to 500,000 people; increase in daily wage of tea garden workers to ₹365; 200 units free electricity to all households; and ₹2,000 per month to housewives -- and promised to implement them within hours of forming the government in the state.
Gandhi accused the BJP of targeting hill tribes in Assam by trying to scrap Article 244A of the constitution, which allows formation of an autonomous state comprising certain tribal areas in the state and creation of a legislature or council of ministers or both.
“While the BJP is trying to attack the culture and traditions of hill tribes by scrapping Article 244A, we will implement it,” Gandhi said while appealing voters to bring the Congress-led alliance to power.
Assam has three hill districts, Karbi Anglong, West Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao, which have five assembly seats, and will go to polls in the second phase. It was clear that Gandhi’s statement was aimed at wooing votes there.
“Rahul Gandhi tweets that there is a difference between ‘jumlebazi’ (false promise) and progress. That’s our question too. His (Gandhi’s) grandmother, father and mother made false promises. Who coined the term ‘garibi hatao’ (remove poverty)? Did they remove poverty?” BJP national president JP Nadda said at Dharmapur on Tuesday.
Most of the focus of the campaign in the second phase was in the three Bengali-majority districts of Barak Valley --Karimganj, Cachar and Hailakandi, which have 15 seats in total.
BJP has had a strong presence in the region for the past three decades, mainly among Bengali Hindus. On the other hand, Congress and AIUDF also have influence in several pockets, the latter among Bengali Muslims. In 2016, BJP won eight of the 15 seats while Congress won three and AIUDF bagged four.
In order to influence voters, most BJP star campaigners, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and senior minister Himanta Biswa Sharma, spattered their rally speeches with Bengali sentences. Terming the Congress-AIUDF alliance as communal, the saffron party kept attacking both in their election rallies.
Also Read | Will communal polarisation in Bengal, Assam elections aid BJP’s win in the east?
Similarly, Congress star campaigners, including state in-charge Jitendra Singh, and senior leader Sachin Pilot, tried to speak the local language and informed voters about the party’s five guarantees for voters.
BJP is facing a prominent rebel candidate, sitting MLA Dilip Kumar Paul, in Silchar, who resigned from the party after being denied a ticket and is contesting as an Independent.
In the second phase, ruling BJP has fielded 34 candidates while its alliance partner, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), will contest from six seats (the parties will have a ‘friendly contest’ in one seat). United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL), which is also part of the alliance, will contest three seats.
On the other hand, Congress is contesting 28 seats and its alliance partners AIUDF and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) seven and four seats respectively.
A total of 42,368 poll personnel will be on duty at 10,592 polling stations (556 of them only for women voters) on Thursday for the second phase of polling. . In the third and final phase 40 seats would got to polls on April 6.