Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge with party leader K.C. Venugopal
Guwahati: The Congress announced the names of four candidates for the upcoming bypolls in five assembly constituencies in Assam scheduled for next month.
The bypolls will be held in Dholai (SC), Sidli (ST), Bongaigaon, Behali and Samaguri, which became vacant after the representatives won in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
The All India Congress Committee (AICC) on Sunday named candidates for Dholai, Sidli, Bongaigaon and Samaguri.
Out of the five seats, only Samaguri was previously held by Congress leader Rakibul Hussain, whose son Tanzil has been named as the party’s candidate.
The AICC also announced Dhrubajyoti Purakayastha for Dholai, Sanjib Warle for Sidli, and Brajenjit Sinha for the Bongaigaon seat.
The Congress left the Behali seat for the united opposition alliance, which has nominated Bibek Das of CPI(ML).
However, some local Congress leaders in Behali have opposed the decision and expressed a desire to nominate their own candidate. As a result, the state leadership has communicated with the central committee to make a final decision regarding the seat.
The BJP on Saturday released the names of its three candidates for the bypolls — Nihar Ranjan Das (Dholai), Diganta Ghatowar (Behali) and Diplu Ranjan Sarma (Samaguri).
Bongaigaon and Sidli will be contested by BJP’s allies AGP and UPPL, respectively, and the names of the candidates are yet to be announced.
Polling is set for November 13, with results to be counted on November 23.
