The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday dropped 11 sitting MLAs in Assam, which is going for three-phase polls on March 27, April 1 and 6. The party had won 60 seats in the 2016 Assembly election.
Both chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and deputy chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma would be contesting the election from Majuli Scheduled Tribes reserved seat and Jalukbari constituency, respectively. The president of the Assam unit of the BJP Ranjeet Kumar Das would fight from Patacharkuchi.
The BJP has given ticket to four women and one Muslim.
The names of candidates were released by the national general secretary of the BJP Arun Singh in New Delhi in the presence of Sonowal, Sarma and Das.
The names have been finalised after marathon meeting of the Central Election Committee which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and the party’s national president, J P Nadda.
The BJP will contest on 92 seats while alliance partners Asom Gana Parishad on 26 seats, United People’s Party Liberal on seven seats and Gana Suraksha Party on one seat.
Assam, according to political analysts, is heading for a very tough battle as the opposition Congress-led alliance has come under the banner of Mahajath. The BJP will be relying heavily on Upper Assam where it did considerably well in 2016. In contrast, the Mahajath is likely to do very well in southern Assam because of coming together of Congress and All India United Democratic Front of Badruddin Ajmal.
Besides the crossing over of Bodoland People’s Front is also likely to tilt the balance in favour of the latter. In Upper Assam too the Congress is trying its level best to woo the Tea-tribes.
