SPEAKER, BJP MINISTERS IN FRAY IN ASSAM TODAY
GUWAHATI: The stage is set for the second phase of the ongoing assembly election in Assam in which 39 of the 126 seats will go to polls on Thursday.
Over 7.3 million voters will decide the fates of 345 candidates in 13 districts which will go to polls on Wednesday.
Prominent candidates in the second phase include ministers in the Bharatiya Janata Partyled government, and assembly deputy speaker Aminul Haque Laskar.
OVER 7.3 MILLION VOTERS WILL DECIDE THE FATES OF 345 CANDIDATES (26 WOMEN) IN 13 DISTRICTS
GUWAHATI: The stage is set for the second phase of the ongoing assembly election in Assam in which 39 of the 126 seats will go to polls on Thursday.
Over 7.3 million voters will decide the fates of 345 candidates (26 women) in 13 districts which will go to polls on April 1. In the first phase, polling had taken place in 47 seats in 12 districts on March 27.
Prominent candidates in the second phase include Parimal Suklabaidya (Dholai), Pijush Hazarika (Jagiroad), Bhabesh Kalita (Rangia), all ministers in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government, and the assembly deputy speaker Aminul Haque Laskar (Sonai). All of them are from the BJP.
The high voltage campaign that saw bigwigs from BJP and Congress touring the state several times in the past week ended on a damp note on Tuesday due to inclement weather.
Like in the first phase, Congress reiterated its commitment to fulfil all five guarantees it made to voters while BJP warned voters about a likely threat to Assam’s culture and identity if Congress and its alliance partner All India United
Democratic Front (AIUDF) came to power.
“We won’t allow Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) to be implemented in Assam. It is the first of our five guarantees for people of Assam. The legislation is an attack on Assam’s language, history and culture,” senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said in a video message to Assam’s voters on Tuesday.
Gandhi accused the BJP of targeting hill tribes in Assam by trying to scrap Article 244A of the constitution, which allows formation of an autonomous state comprising certain tribal areas in the state and creation of a legislature or council of ministers or both.
“While the BJP is trying to attack the culture and traditions of hill tribes by scrapping Article 244A, we will implement it,” Gandhi said while appealing voters to bring the Congress-led alliance to power.
Assam has three hill districts, Karbi Anglong, West Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao, which have five assembly seats, and will go to polls in the second phase. It was clear that Gandhi’s statement was aimed at wooing votes there.
“Rahul Gandhi tweets that there is a difference between ‘jumlebazi’ (false promise) and progress. That’s our question too. His (Gandhi’s) grandmother, father and mother made false promises. Who coined the term ‘garibi hatao’ (remove poverty)? Did they remove poverty?” BJP national president JP Nadda said at Dharmapur on Tuesday.
Most of the focus of the campaign in the second phase was in the three Bengali-majority districts of Barak Valley --Karimganj, Cachar and Hailakandi, which have 15 seats in total.
In the second phase, ruling BJP has fielded 34 candidates while its alliance partner, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), will contest from six seats (the parties will have a ‘friendly contest’ in one seat). United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL), which is also part of the alliance, will contest three seats.
On the other hand, Congress is contesting 28 seats and its alliance partners AIUDF and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) seven and four seats respectively.