Congress releases second list of 23 candidates for Assam elections, leaves 15 seats for allies

THe us congress on sabbatum released its back lean of 23 candidates for the upcoming Assam assemblage elections, with the party so far naming its nominees in 65 seats in the 126-member House.The party also left 15 seats for its alliance partners in the northeastern state, where assembly elections are likely in April.The Congress is leading an alliance of opposition parties, including CPI(M) and Assam Jatiya Parishad, with the CPI (ML) Liberation also lending its support on Saturday.The Raijor Dal had been a part of the opposition alliance in previous elections, but the arrangement has not come through for the forthcoming polls. Its chief Akhil Gogoi had won the last assembly election as an Independent.In the second list of candidates, released by Congress general secretary, Organisation, K C Venugopal, three sitting MLAs have been renominated – Wazed Ali Choudhury (Birsing Jarua), Abul Kalam Rasheed Alam (Goalpara East) and Rakibuddin Ahmed (Chamaria).Former Lok Sabha MP Abdul Khaleque, who had also served two terms as an MLA, has been named from Mandia constituency.Among other candidates on the list are Bipul Gogoi from Tingkhong, Kartik Chandra Kurmi from Rangapara, Santanu Borah from New Guwahati, Kishore Kumar Barua from Dimoria, Nurul Islam from Srijangram seat and Devid Phukan from Tinsukia.The Congress has set aside the assembly constituencies of Bajali, Palasbari, Guwahati Central, Goreswar, Morigaon, Barhampur, Bindakandi, Behali, Dibrugarh and Diphu, among others, for the alliance partners.The assembly elections will be held in Assam for the first time since the completion of delimitation of constituencies in 2023, where boundaries of seats were redrawn without changing the total number of seats.The Congress had on March 3 released its first list of 42 candidates for the upcoming Assam assembly polls, fielding state party chief Gaurav Gogoi from the Jorhat seat.Taking a lead in announcing the names of its candidates even before the declaration of the poll schedule, the party said Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Debabrata Saikia will contest the election from the Nazira constituency.Former Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Ripun Bora has been fielded from the Barchalla constituency.The Congress has been out of power in the northeastern state since 2016, while the BJP-led government will be eyeing a third straight term. Currently, the ruling BJP's strength in the 126-member assembly is 64, while its allies AGP has nine MLAs, UPPL has seven, and BPF has three members.In the opposition camp, the Congress has 26 MLAs, AIUDF has 15 members, and CPI(M) has one MLA. There is an Independent legislator as well.