Guwahati: Expelled Congress leader and former MP Moni Kumar Subba’s presence in the fray has complicated Congress’ poll equations in Tezpur parliamentary constituency where Rahul Gandhi’s choice Bhupen Kumar Borah is finding the going tough amid ‘Modi wave’ sweeping across the constituency.
Moni Kumar Subba, who has been an expelled from Congress for six years for contesting in Tezpur Lok Sabha constituency without getting a party ticket, is set to eat into Congress support among the 1.85 lakh strong Nepali voters’ block in the constituency. Subba will do everything possible to defeat the Congress candidate to take revenge.
The Congress has accused the opposition BJP candidate Ram Prasad Sharma of striking nexus with outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Sangbijit) which had earlier announced its intention to oppose Congress in the polls because of the party’s opposition to separate state demand of Bodos. The aged father of the Congress candidate has even put up a prayer before the election commission to provide special security to his son in view of threat to his life.
The BJP candidate has denied having any nexus with insurgent groups and stated that BJP stood for restoration of peace through dialogue with armed group and alleged Congress of trying to defame him through false allegation of link with militants. Still the Congress has filed a police complaint against the BJP candidate and two other party leaders accusing them of links with insurgents.
The constituency is witnessing an intense campaigning by the Congress and the BJP whose top notch leaders have hit the campaign trail to woo voters. For Congress both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi have campaigned for the party candidate Bhupen Kumar Borah while Narendra Modi has sent jitters down the ranks of Congress by addressing a massive rally in the constituency for the party candidate Ram Prasad Sharma at Bishwanath Charilai.
The regional AGP candidate Joseph Toppo who is the sitting MP, is making steady progress in the electoral race while Congress and the BJP are engaged in high voltage electioneering.
Toppo’s strong point is that he is a Christian from tea tribe community and Tezpur constituency has over 2.75 lakh tea workers’ votes including 1.25 lakh tea workers from Christian community.
Tezpur also has a traditional base of the AGP among the six lakh Assamese-speaking voters who are being wooed by all the three major contenders including Congress, BJP and the
AGP. Presence of over two lakh Muslim voters is a strength for the Congress candidate while over 56,000 tribal communities’ voters are likely to get divided among the three key parties in the fray.
Meanwhile, former AGP president Brindabon Goswami today called upon the Election Commission to ensure prevention of EVM tampering during the polls. Goswami said the EC should have had its own squad to do such jobs instead on depending on police and civil officials.