GUWAHATI, March 11: The Opposition Congress on Thursday nominated sitting MLA, Sum Ronghang as a candidate to contest the Assam Assembly poll from Diphu Legislative Assembly constituency in Karbi Anglong on April 1.
A Cabinet minister and a former chief executive member of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC), Ronghang had quit BJP after being denied a ticket and joined Congress last Sunday.
Ronghang’s name was among the 11 sitting MLAs excluded by BJP in the list of party candidates. The saffron party had announced a list of 70 candidates on March 5 and, instead nominated Bidya Sing Engleng for the Diphu seat.
Interestingly, Engleng, a former MLA and former KAAC chief, had lost the 2016 Assembly election, which he contested as a Congress candidate, to Ronghang.
The central election committee (CEC) of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) had on Wednesday night announced the names of 26 candidates for the second phase Assembly polls in Assam. Subsequently, the CEC issued another list on Thursday afternoon featuring Ronghang for Diphu (ST) constituency and Raton Engti for Bokajan (ST) constituency, for the second phase of Assam assembly elections.
The list issued by the CEC on Wednesday night includes prominent names from Barak valley, including former state minister, Siddeque Ahmed who will be the candidate for Karimganj South constituency and incumbent legislator, Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha who has been nominated for the Karimganj North seat.
Among the other nominees in Barak Valley are Sambhu Sing Mallah (Ratabari); Sachin Sahoo (Patharkandi); Sanjeev Roy (Katlichera); Tamal Kanti Banik (Silchar); Kamakhya Prasad Mala (Dholai ); Ajit Singh (Udharbond); Mukesh Pandey (Lakhipur); Misbahul Islam Laskar (Barkhola) and Khalil Uddin Majumdar (Katigora)
The list also includes Nirmal Langthasa (Haflong); Sanjeeb Teron (Howraghat); Augustine Enghee (Baithalangso); Kishor Kumar Bhattacharya (Kamalpur); Pradyut Kumar Bhuyan (Nalbari); Kuldip Barua (Sipajhar); Basanta Das (Mangaldoi); Md Ilias Ali (Dalgaon); Swapan Kumar Mandal (Jagiroad); Asif Mohd Nazar (Laharighat); Sashi Kanta Das (Raha); Santanu Sarma (Nowgong); Suresh Borah (Barhampur); Debabrata Saha (Hojai) and Swapan Kar (Lumding).
Meanwhile, resentment over denial of party tickets continues to grow in the party.
Several Congress members of the Nagaon town committee staged a protest on Thursday morning after aspirant Durlav Chamua was denied a ticket to contest the poll.
The members threatened to quit the party if Chamua was not nominated in the next 12 hours, sources said.
It may be mentioned that recently, hundreds of Congress workers from two western Assam constituencies had stormed into the party headquarters (Rajiv Bhawan) here recently to protest against the party’s decision to leave seats for alliance partner, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF).
The party has already announced its nominees in 43 seats for the first two phases since last Saturday.
AIUDF list
Meanwhile, Grand Alliance partner, AIUDF on Wednesday announced three names of candidates for the second and third phase polls in the state.
The party named Abdul Aziz as the contestant from Badarpur and Jakir Hussain Laskar from Hailakandi seats (in the second-phase Assembly polls on April 1) while Samsul Huda will contest for the Bilasipara East seat, which is going to the polls in the third phase on April 6.
