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Assam polls: Heavyweights including ministers, party presidents, rebels file nomination on last day
Voting for the single-phased election will take place on April 9.
Guwahati: Several political heavyweights including ministers and party presidents submitted their papers on Monday, the last day of filing nominations for next month's Assam assembly.
Voting for the single-phased election will take place on April 9.
Prominent among those who filed nominations on Monday were BJP ministers, Ranoj Pegu (Dhemaji), Jayanta Malla Baruah (Nalbari), Chandra Mohan Patowary (Tihu) and Bimal Borah (Tingkhong).
Senior cabinet minister and president of Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), Atul Bora, and party colleague and minister Keshab Mahanta filed nominations for the Bokakhat and Kaliabor seats respectively. AGP, is a partner in the BJP-led coalition government in Assam.
Former Congress state president, Bhupen Kumar Borah, who joined BJP last month, filed nomination from the Bihpuria seat.
Congress state unit president, Gaurav Gogoi, filed nomination papers for the Jorhat seat. The 43-year-old who is also the Lok Sabha MP from the same constituency (Jorhat) will be facing former assembly speaker and sitting BJP MLA, Hitendra Nath Goswami.
"People of Assam are hoping for a New Assam...We want to bring about a change in that," Gogoi said ahead of submitting papers.
Focus was also on rebels who switched sides or filed nominations as independent candidates after being denied party tickets. Prominent among those were Nandita Garlosa, a BJP minister in the present government who resigned from the party on Sunday after being denied a ticket. She filed nomination on Monday as the Congress candidate for the Halflong seat, which she had won in 2021.
Garlosa was the only minister from the BJP in the coalition who was denied a ticket. This time, the party had fielded Rupali Langthasa for the seat reserved for scheduled tribe (ST) candidates---the move apparently miffed Garlosa, who was handling the mines, minerals and tribal faith portfolios in the cabinet.
In Sibsagar, BJP sprang a surprise by fielding Kushol Dowari on Monday after he had threatened to contest as an Independent. The party had earlier left the seat to ally AGP who had fielded Pradip Hazarika against sitting MLA, Akhil Gogoi, the president of Raijor Dal, a constituent of the Congress-led six-party opposition alliance. Now there could be a 'friendly contest' between BJP and AGP for the seat unless Hazarika withdraws nomination.
In the prestigious Dispur seat in Guwahati, Jayanta Das, who resigned from BJP after being denied a ticket in favour of new entrant from Congress Pradyut Bordoloi, filed nomination as an independent. "Other may have muscle power, but I am going to win as I have the strength of the public with me," said Das ahead of submitting his papers.
There were speculations that sitting BJP candidate from Dispur, Atul Bora, who was upset at being denied a ticket, and West Guwahati (now Central Guwahati after delimitation) MLA from AGP, Ramendra Narayan Kalita, who also didn't get the the nod, might enter the contest from the two seats as Independents.
The two senior leaders, however, decided not to file nominations, seemingly at the behest of chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and other BJP leaders who met them to explain the electoral situation.
The saffron party was able to placate another sitting MLA, Amiya Kumar Bhuyan, who didn't get the ticket for the Bihpuria seat, which was given to another Congress entrant, Bhupen Kumar Borah. "Bhuyan has been selected as vice president of the BJP's state unit. In coming days, we will give him more responsibilities," CM Sarma said. Bhuyan, who was planning to contest as Independent, decided against it after the elevation.
In Titabor, the sitting Congress MLA, Bhaskar Jyoti Baruah, resigned from the party on Monday and filed nomination as an Independent. Baruah was upset that the party chose to give the ticket to Pran Kurmi instead of him this time.
On Sunday, Congress's Assam unit issued a circular stating that anyone who joins another party or contests as an Independent after being denied ticket would face automatic suspension from the party for three years. Any party worker associated directly or indirectly with such candidates would also face suspension for three years, the circular said.
