Bypolls to 5 Assam Assembly Seats: BJP to Contest 3, AGP 1, UPPL 1

The 3 National Democratic Alliance (NDA) alliance partners – Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People’s Party–Liberal (UPPL) are gearing up for the bypolls to 5 Assam Assembly seats.

Of the 5 seats, BJP will contest the Behali, Dholai and Samaguri seats, UPPL will contest Sidli seat while the AGP will contest the Bongaigaon seat, said Assam Cabinet Minister and AGP chief Atul Bora today.

In a proactive move to secure electoral success in Bongaigaon, members of the AGP convened a meeting today to discuss their strategy for the upcoming elections.

Speaking to media after the meeting, Minister Atul Bora expressed confidence of winning the Bongaigaon seat with majority votes.

“I am hopeful that we will win the Bongaigaon seat with a majority of votes. To ensure our victory we will soon formulate effective plans and initiatives to strengthen the party’s presence in the region,” said the Minister Bora.

The bypolls are expected to take place between October and November, depending on the Election Commission’s schedule.

It may be mentioned here that the 5 seats fell vacant as the MLAs representing these seats were elected as MPs in the recently held 18th Lok Sabha polls.

The Sidli seat fell vacant as Joyanta Basumatary of the UPPL who was representing the seat, was elected from the Kokrajhar Lok Sabha seat.

Behali seat fell vacant after 4-time Behali MLA (2001, 2006, 2016 and 2021), Ranjit Dutta won the Sonitpur Lok Sabha seat by a margin of 3,61,408 votes defeating his nearest rival, Prem Lal Ganju of Congress. Dutta got 7,75,788 votes while Ganju got 4,14,380 votes.

Bypoll for the Bongaigaon seat has been necessitated as 8-time MLA from the seat, Phani Bhushan Choudhury of the AGP, an ally of BJP in Assam, won the Barpeta Lok Sabha seat with 8,60,113 votes defeating his nearest rival Deep Bayan of the Congress who polled 6,37,762 votes.

Congress leader Rakibul Hussain, a 5-time MLA from the Samaguri Assembly seat won the Dhubri Lok Sabha seat with 14,71,885 votes defeating sitting MP Badruddin Ajmal of AIUDF who got 4,59,409 votes. Therefore, election for the Samaguri Assembly seat will have to be held.

Bypolls for the Dholai Assembly seat will have to held as Assam Transport, Excise and Fisheries Minister in the Himanta Biswa Sarma Government and 5-time MLA of Dholia, Parimal Suklabaidya won from the Silchar Lok Sabha seat trouncing Surya Kanta Sarkar of Congress by 2,64,311 votes.

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