E-Paper
Lok Sabha election 2019: Cong likely to field Sushmita Dev again in Silchar
Sushmita Dev who is also the president of the All India Mahila Congress, is likely to be re-nominated as the Congress candidate in Silchar.
Silchar Lok Sabha constituency is located in Cachar district of Assam. Sushmita Dev of the Congress is the sitting Lok Sabha MP of Silchar. In 2014, she recorded a stunning victory defeating BJP veteran Kabindra Purkayastha by more than 1.2 lakh votes.
The Congress is expected to re-nominate her to the seat. Sushmita is also the president of the All India Mahila Congress. But the contest this time could be tougher than the last one given that the situation in Assam has changed dramatically after the draft NRC was published followed by the unrest over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill which lapsed in February.
The constituency will vote in the second phase of polling on April 18.
Her father, the late Santosh Mohan Dev had won from the seat five times between 1980 and 2004.
Like Karimganj, Silchar is also a Bengali-speaking constituency in the Barak Valley.
As per the estimates of 2011 census, out of total 1677821 population 81.2% is rural and 18.8% is urban population. The Scheduled castes (SC) and Scheduled tribes (ST) ratio is 14.54 and 1.03, respectively out of total population.
Silchar is a commercial hub and also a gateway to Mizoram, Tripura and Manipur and is a point of origin for supplies to these states.
Silchar Lok Sabha constituency in numbers:
Name of the Lok Sabha constituency: Silchar
Date of voting: April 18
2019 candidates: Rajdeep Roy Bengali (BJP), Sushmita Dev (Congress)
Sitting MP, Party: Sushmita Dev, Congress
Winning margin in 2014: 120,844 votes
Runner up name, party: Kabindra Purkayastha, BJP
Number of voters in 2014: 1,060,175
Percentage of votes polled in 2014: 75.44
Number of polling booths in 2014: 1188
Number of women voters: 505,635
