BJP declares candidates for Assam elections

NEW DELHI: The BJP declared its first list of candidates for the ensuing Assam assembly election on Wednesday evening. Assam BJP president and Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal, the party’s chief ministerial can- didate, will contest from Majuli constituency in Jorhat district.

The BJP’s list of candidates was finalised in the party’s parliamentary board meeting held in New Delhi. The secretary of the BJP’s central election committee, JP Nadda, released the names against constituencies for the polls.

“Today, we had a day-long discussion to finalise the list of candidates. The party has selected me to contest from Majuli constituency,” said Sonowal.

The Majuli assembly constituency falls under the Lakhimpur Lok Sabha constituency. In the last Lok Sabha election, Sonowal got the highest number votes from the Majuli constituency.

“Finalising the list of candi- dates was a challenge; still we managed to include people from all communities. We have candidates belonging to every ethnic community of the state,” said Himanta Biswa Sarma, convenor of the BJP’s Assam election management committee.

The party has decided to field its Jorhat MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa against Congress stalwart and chief minister Tarun Gogoi in Titabar constituency in Jorhat district.