Polling underway in five Assembly seats in Assam

by IANS |

Guwahati, Nov 13 (IANS) Polling is underway in five Assembly seats in Assam where bye-elections are being held on Wednesday.

These five Assembly constituencies -- Dholai, Samaguri, Behali, Bongaigaon and Sidli fell vacant following the election of five legislators in the Lower House of Parliament in this year’s Lok Sabha polls.

The Dholai Assembly constituency is reserved for the Scheduled Caste (SC) community and Sidli seat is reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST).

Except in Samaguri, where Congress heavyweight Rakibul Hussain has been winning since 2001, the rest of the four seats are with the BJP-led alliance.

The BJP has given candidates in three seats — Dholai, Samaguri and Behali.

Diplu Ranjan Sarma was given a ticket in Samaguri while Diganta Ghatowar and Nihar Ranjan Das are fighting for the BJP in Behali and Dholai Assembly segments respectively.

The BJP’s former cabinet minister Parimal Suklabaidya successfully contested in the Silchar Lok Sabha seat and his earlier Assembly seat Dholai fell vacant.

Another senior BJP leader Ranjit Dutta was elected to the Lower House of Parliament this time.

He was representing the Behali seat in the Assembly.

Congress leader Rakibul Hussain defeated the three-time AIUDF MP and party chief Badruddin Ajmal in the Dhubri Lok Sabha seat with a margin of more than 10 lakh votes reinforcing his status as a five-time legislator from Samuguri Assembly seat.

The ally of the BJP — Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) is contesting polls in the Bongaigaon Assembly constituency while United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) gave a ticket to Nirmal Kumar Brahma in the Sidli seat, who is the current district president of the party in Chirang.

Meanwhile, CM Sarma said, “We will comfortably win four seats and there is contest on one seat. However, there are possibilities that the BJP and our allies can win all five Assembly seats in the bye-elections.”

The Chief Minister asserted that the people have been connected with the ruling party and they are happy with the government’s performance.

The Samaguri Assembly constituency has witnessed sporadic pre-poll violence with supporters of BJP and Congress clashing with each other on several occasions.