Fate of 47 Candidates in 4 Seats Hangs in Balance in Third Phase of Assam Polls

In Guwahati, held by the BJP, a direct contest is on the cards between BJPs Bijuli Kalita Medhi and Congress candidate Mira Borthakur Goswami, both debutants in Lok Sabha polls.The contest in Barpeta is expected to be triangular among NDA partner Asom Gana Parishad AGP candidate Phanibhushan Choudhury, CPIMs Manoranjan Talukdar and Deep Bayan of the Congress.In Dhubri, 13 candidates are in the fray with AIUDF strongman Badruddin Ajmal, seeking a fourth term, locked in a triangular contest with Congress MLA Rakibul Hussain and NDA partner AGPs Zaved Islam.

The political fate of 47 candidates in four Lok Sabha seats will be decided on Tuesday when the third and final phase of the elections in the state will be held. Polling will begin at 7 am and conclude at 5 pm in the four constituencies - Kokrajhar (ST), Dhubri, Barpeta and Guwahati. All eyes will be on the prestigious Guwahati seat where both BJP and Congress have put up woman nominees - Bijuli Kalita Medhi and Mira Borthakur Goswami - respectively. The other prominent candidates are AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal who is seeking re-election for the fourth successive term from Dhubri, Congress MLA Rakibul Hussain, eight time Asom Gana Parishad legislator Phanibhushan Choudhury and CPI(M) MLA Manoranjan Talukdar. Barpeta has the highest of 14 candidates and Guwahati the lowest of eight in the fray while six women are contesting in the final phase. The BJP has put up only one candidate in this phase for the Guwahati seat, while its alliance partners AGP are contesting in two - Dhubri and Barpeta - and the UPPL in Kokrajhar. The Congress and the Voters Party International (VPI) are fighting in all four seats, while the BPF, the Trinamool Congress, Bharatiya Gana Parishad, SUCI(C) and Republican Party of India (Athawale) are contesting in two each. The AIUDF, CPI(M), Gana Suraksha Party, Hindu Samaj Party, Asom Jana Morcha, National Road Map Party of India , Rashtriya Ulema Council, Ekam Sanatan Bharat Dal and Bahujan Maha Party are contesting in one seat each while 16 independents are also in the fray. A total electorate of 82.11 lakh including 41.27 men, 40.84 women and 112 belonging to the third gender will be eligible to exercise their franchise in 9,516 polling stations. Polling will be held amid tight security with 60 companies of security forces deployed across the five constituencies. In Guwahati, held by the BJP, a direct contest is on the cards between BJP's Bijuli Kalita Medhi and Congress candidate Mira Borthakur Goswami, both debutants in Lok Sabha polls.

The contest in Barpeta is expected to be triangular among NDA partner Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) candidate Phanibhushan Choudhury, CPI(M)'s Manoranjan Talukdar and Deep Bayan of the Congress.

In Dhubri, 13 candidates are in the fray with AIUDF strongman Badruddin Ajmal, seeking a fourth term, locked in a triangular contest with Congress MLA Rakibul Hussain and NDA partner AGP's Zaved Islam. In Kokrajhar (ST), a triangular contest is also on the cards among UPPL's Jayanta Basumtary, Congress' Garjen Mushahary and Bodoland People's Front's (BPF) Kampa Borgoyary. The sitting independent Kokrajhar MP Naba Kumar Sarania, representing the seat reserved for Scheduled Tribes since 2014, had filed his nomination papers which was rejected following the striking down of his Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. Assam Chief Electoral Officer Anurag Goel said that all arrangements have been completed for conducting the polls in a free, fair, safe and peaceful manner. In the first phase of polls held on April 19, 78.25 per cent of the electorate exercised their franchise to decide the fate of 35 candidates for the Kaziranga, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Sonitpur and Lakhimpur constituencies. In the second phase held on April 26, 81.17 per cent of the voters cast their votes to decide the fate of 61 candidates for Karimganj, Silchar(SC), Diphu (ST), Nagaon and Darrang-Udalguri. In the outgoing Lok Sabha, BJP held nine seats, Congress three, AIUDF and an independent one each from the state.

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