The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which will be contesting three out of the five assembly constituencies in the upcoming by-polls, announced the names of candidates on Saturday.
BJP announced its candidates to contest from Samaguri, Dholai, and Behali assembly constituencies naming Diplu Ranjan Sarma, Nihar Ranjan Das, and Diganta Ghatowar, respectively.
This comes after the Election Commission of India (ECI) recently declared the dates of by-elections in Assam and other parts of the country. Bypolls will be held for five Assembly seats on November 13, with the results expected on November 23. The constituencies heading to polls are Dholai, Sidli, Bongaigaon, Behali, and Samaguri.
These five Assembly seats became vacant earlier this year after several MLAs transitioned to parliamentary roles following the Lok Sabha elections. This included two MLAs from the ruling BJP, including a cabinet minister, along with one each from alliance partners Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United Peoples Party Liberal (UPPL), as well as one from the opposition Congress.
In the recent elections, BJP’s Parimal Suklabaidya, representing the Dholai Assembly segment, and Ranjit Dutta from Behali, successfully contested for the Cachar and Tezpur Lok Sabha seats, respectively. Additionally, veteran AGP leader Phani Bhushan Choudhury, a longstanding figure in the Bongaigaon constituency since 1985, won the Barpeta Lok Sabha seat. Meanwhile, UPPL's Joyanta Basumatary, the former MLA from Sidli, also made headlines by securing the Kokrajhar seat.
The Congress party, led by Rakibul Hussain, clinched the Dhubri Lok Sabha seat, marking a notable achievement with a considerable margin and reinforcing his status as a five-time legislator from Samaguri.
While, the BJP plans to contest the Behali, Samaguri, and Dholai seats, AGP and UPPL will contest Bongaigaon and Sidli, respectively.
