Guwahati: BJP on Thursday filed nominations for two out of three assembly seats for the bypolls, while its ally United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) filed in one.
The saffron party has nominated Diganta Ghatowar from Behali against Congress candidate Jayanta Barah, while Nihar Ranjan Das will take on Congress’s Dhrubajyoti Purkayastha in Dholai. BJP’s Diplu Ranjan Sarma and Congress’s Tanzil Hussain will vie for the Samaguri seat.While Ghatowar and Das submitted their nominations on Thursday, Sarma will file his papers on Friday, the last day for filing nominations.
UPPL’s Nirmal Kumar Brahma filed his nomination for the Sidli seat. He will contest against Congress’s Sanjib Warle.
Asom Gana Parishad candidate Deeptimoyee Choudhury will file her nominations for Bongaigaon seat on Friday, contesting against Congress candidate Brajenjit Sinha. Choudhury is the spouse of former eight-time MLA from Bongaigaon and current MP from Barpeta Lok Sabha seat Phani Bhushan Choudhury.
BJP’s chief Spokesperson Manoj Baruah expressed confidence that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will emerge victorious in Behali, Dholai, Sidli and Bongaigaon. However, he admitted that the Samaguri seat might pose a challenge due to its demographic composition. “Seeing the demography of the Samaguri seat, there will be challenges. But, we are leaving no stone unturned and are optimistic that we will win,” he added.
In Behali, Baruah stated that even though Congress will be fielding their own candidate, betraying their partners of the united opposition forum, it will not pose any significant challenge to the BJP.
Baruah alleged that opposition parties, including Congress, demonstrated their lack of accountability to the public and were solely focused on power games. He added that the drama staged by the opposition parties, regarding the candidature for the Behali constituency, clearly proves that their so-called united front is not based on any principles, ideals or minimum programme.