HT Bureau
GUWAHATI/JORHAT, March 30: Altogether 35 candidates, including Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi, are left in the fray for the first phase polls in Assam on April 19, with the withdrawal of one person on Saturday.
A total of 38 candidates had filed their papers for the polls to the five constituencies –Kaziranga, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur and Sonitpur. One person withdrew his nomination on the last day of withdrawal on Saturday while the nomination papers of two other candidates were rejected during scrutiny on Thursday.
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In Jorhat, an independent Baba Kurmi withdrew his nomination, leaving four candidates in the fray including sitting BJP MP Topon Gogoi and Lok Sabha deputy leader of the opposition and Congress candidate Gaurav Gogoi.
Nomination papers of Republican Party of India’s (Athawale) candidate Faisal Ahmed Majumdar (Kaziranga) and independent Mahendra Orang (Sonitpur) were rejected.
A district administration official informed that following Kurmi’s withdrawal of nomination, the number of candidates for the 14 Jorhat HPC remains four. They are: Gaurav Gogoi (Indian National Congress), Topon Kumar Gogoi (Bharatiya Janata Party), Arun Chandra Handique (Ekam Sanatan Bharat Dal), and Raj Kumar Duarah (Independent).
Besides this, in the presence of the general observer for the Jorhat parliamentary constituency, the allotment of symbols was conducted at the returning officer’s office today.
The symbols assigned are: a hand to INC candidate Gaurav Gogoi, a lotus flower to BJP candidate Topon Kumar Gogoi, a flute to Ekam Sanatan Bharat Dal candidate Arun Chandra Handique, and a gas cylinder to Independent candidate Rajkumar Duarah.
Kaziranga, the erstwhile Kaliabor constituency which was renamed during the delimitation exercise in the state, has the highest number of 11 candidates, including BJP Rajya Sabha MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa and Congress contestant Roselina Tirkey.
In Dibrugarh, three candidates are in the fray including Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal of BJP, Assam Jatiya Parishad president Lurinjyoti Gogoi as the unified opposition candidate, and Aam Aadmi Party candidate Manoj Dhanowar.
Eight candidates are in the fray in Sonitpur. They include BJP MLA and former minister Ranjit Dutta, Congress candidate Prem Lal Ganju and AAP’s Rishiraj Kaundilya.
In Lakhimpur, nine candidates will contest the polls with the main fight being between sitting BJP MP Pradan Baruah and Congress candidate Uday Shankar Hazarika.
In the outgoing Lok Sabha, BJP held nine seats, Congress three, AIUDF and an independent one each from the state. (With inputs from PTI)
