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‘No differences’: Assam Cong chief on Nagaon ticket decision after delimitation
Assam Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah said the announcement about the party candidates was likely to be made on March 8 or 9
GUWAHATI: The Congress will take a few more days to finalise its list of candidates from Assam due to continuing differences among its three sitting MPs on their Lok Sabha seats due to changes in the constituencies due to the delimitation exercise last year, people familiar with the matter said.
Two sitting MPs, Pradyut Bordoli (Nagaon) and Gaurav Gogoi (Kaliabor), are seeking the party ticket from Nagaon. Barpeta MP Abdul Khaleque, on the other hand, is interested in contesting from Dhubri, a seat that party leaders said, was expected to go to former minister Rakibul Hussain, the people cited above said on condition o anonymity.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won 9 of Assam’s 14 Lok Sabha seats in 2019, on Saturday named its 11 candidates from Assam. It is leaving the other three seats to its allies.
Assam Congress state unit chief Bhupen Kumar Borah said: “There’s no argument or differences over the selection of candidates. The sitting MPs have expressed their desire, but will follow whatever the party decides”.
“Since a portion of Kaliabor (now named Kaziranga) was included in Nagaon seat after delimitation, it was expected that Gogoi would seek that seat or else his supporters would have felt that he ditched them. Likewise, a portion of the Nagaon seat got included in Kaziranga,” he explained.
Borah added that a meeting of the party’s high command is slated for March 7 and the announcement of the names of candidates from Assam could be made on March 8 or 9. He said the Congress would field candidates from 11-12 seats and leave the rest for its alliance partners under the United Opposition Forum (UOF).
The ECI’s delimitation order in August 2023 did not change the number of the state’s assembly (126) and Lok Sabha seats (14) but redrew the boundary of most constituencies.
The delimitation of the assembly and Parliamentary seats in Assam was last carried out in 1976 based on the 1971 Census. The exercise could not be carried out in 2002, along with the rest of India, because of the law-and-order situation in the region.
Delimitation has also affected the Barpeta seat which usually elects minority candidates. But with some portion of the constituency getting added to neighbouring Dhubri, which is at present represented by AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal, sitting Congress MP from Barpeta, Abdul Khaleque, is keen to shift there.
A Congress leader said Khaleque might have to stick to his existing seat while the Samaguri MLA and former minister Rakibul Hussain is given the party ticket for Dhubri. The leader added that the party may go along with Gaurav Gogoi in line with his preferences.
“The final decision is in the hands of the party. But I have made it amply clear that as the sitting MP from Nagaon, I should be given the ticket from the same seat. I won’t say anything beyond that,” Nagaon MP, Pradyut Bordoloi, said.
Gogoi and Barpeta MP Khaleque didn’t respond to calls seeking their views.
In 2019, the BJP secured wins in 9 seats, Congress won three and the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and an Independent won one seat each.
