Guwahati/Kolkata (TIP): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on March 19 released a list of 88 candidates for Assam and 111 for West Bengal as it geared up for assembly elections next month in four states and a Union Territory.
In Assam, where the BJP is hoping to come back to power for a third consecutive term, the party released its first list just four days ahead of the last date of filing nominations of March 23. Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma will contest from Jalukbari, on the outskirts of Guwahati, a seat he has represented continuously since 2001.
The list also included new entrants such as former Congress state unit chief Bhupen Kumar Borah (Bihpuria), who joined the party last month, and Pradyut Bordoloi (Dispur), who quit as the Congress MP on Wednesday. The list contained six women and dropped 19 sitting lawmakers.
In West Bengal, where the BJP hopes to end Mamata Banerjee’s 15-year-long rule, the party released a second list of 111 candidates, fielding former Union minister Nisith Pramanik from Mathabhanga, Sandeshkhali protester Rekha Patra from Hingalganj, and actor Roopa Ganguly from Sonarpur Dakshin.
All 126 seats in Assam go to the polls on April 9. Bengal goes to the polls in two phases – 152 seats on April 23 and 142 seats on April 29.
In Assam, the BJP is contesting 89 of the 126 seats, leaving 37 to allies Asom Gana Parishad (26) and Bodoland Peoples Front (11). “Names of 88 candidates from our party have been included in our list. The candidate for only one constituency, Sissiborgaon, which we will be contesting, has not been decided yet. We will finalise that soon,” said Assam BJP president Dilip Saikia.
This is the first assembly election after the controversial 2023 delimitation of seats. “Because of delimitation, many MLAs have lost their constituencies. Some seats have become ST or SC seats, due to which we were not able to give tickets to all sitting legislators. This time we have included many youths as well as very senior leaders who have been working in the grassroots,” said CM Sarma. He also defended fielding Congress turncoat Bordoloi.“I don’t think the BJP has given him anything… He sacrificed a lot and did not join the BJP in the hope of receiving any benefit,” the CM said. Dispur has been represented by BJP’s Atul Bora since 2016 who was denied a ticket this time. “We want to bring the Congress leaders, who are assets, to the BJP. The process started in 2016, and 99 per cent of it has been completed,” Sarma said.
Other former Congress leaders Sashi Kanta Das and Kamalakhya De Purkayastha were given tickets from the Raha and Katigorah seats, respectively. But another Congress MLA, Basanta Das, who joined the BJP last month, didn’t find a place in the list. Among the ministers who found a place were Pijush Hazarika (Jagiroad), Prasanta Phukan (Dibrugarh), Jayanta Malla Baruah (Nalbari) Ranjeet Dass (Bhawanipur-Sorbhog), Ajanta Neog (Golaghat), Ranoj Pegu (Dhemaji), Chandra Mohan Patowary (Tihu), Ashok Singhal (Dhekiajuli), Bimal Bora (Tingkhong), Rupesh Gowala (Doom Dooma), Kaushik Rai (Lakhipur) and Krishnendu Paul (Patharkandi).
Speaker Biswajit Daimary was fielded from Tamulpur, former BJP state chief Bhabesh Kalita from Rangia and former MP Rajdeep Roy from Silchar. In Jorhat, sitting BJP lawmaker Hitendra Nath Goswami will take on Congress state chief Gaurav Gogoi, who is the sitting MP from the Jorhat parliamentary seat. Sarma said that the BJP will start its election campaign from March 24, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, BJP chief Nitin Nabin and other senior leaders like former CM Sarbananda Sonowal will be among the star campaigners.
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