GUWAHATI, Oct 5: The All India Congress Committee (AICC) has announced the candidates’ names for the ensuing by-elections to five Assembly constituencies in Assam.
In a statement to the media on Tuesday evening, the AICC approved the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee’s proposals for the candidatures of Sailendra Nath Das for the Bhabanipur legislative Assembly constituency (LAC) and Luhit Konwar for Mariani LAC.
On Monday evening, Congress president Sonia Gandhi had approved APCC’s proposals for the candidatures of Jowel Tudu for Gossaigaon legislative Assembly constituencies LAC, Bhaskar Dahal for Tamulpur LAC and Manoranjan Konwar for Thowra legislative Assembly constituencies respectively.
With this, speculations over the Thowra seat has come to an end, with both Congress and regional party, Raijor Dal having fielded their own candidates despite claiming to have reached some kind of understanding ahead of the bypolls.
Meanwhile, Raijor Dal candidate for Thowra, Dhaijya Konwar said that the Congress’ decision to field a candidate (despite Raijor Dal insisting on a common candidate from the seat) would not be a factor against the regional party’s prospects.
Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi, while criticising the move, said that Congress has “betrayed the people of Assam” by fielding its own candidate in Thowra.
Warning that the decision would be detrimental to Congress’ prospects, Gogoi exuded confidence that Raijor Dal candidate Dhaijya Konwar had the upper hand and would comfortably win the seat.
On the other hand, Congress’ candidate for Thowra, Manoranjan Konwar slammed the regional party for announcing a candidate before coming to an understanding with the Congress ahead of the bypolls.
It may be mentioned that the Thowra seat fell vacant after sitting MLA, Sushanta Borgohain had resigned from the Congress to join the ruling BJP on August 1.
The Election Commission of India had issued a notification recently, fixing October 30, 2021 as the date for by-polls to the five Assembly seats.