Guwahati, Oct 15 Bypolls for five Assembly seats in Assam will be held on November 13 and counting of votes will be taken up on November 23, the Election Commission announced on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the ruling BJP is set to contest three seats, leaving two constituencies for its ally parties.
The five seats fell vacant after five legislators including a cabinet minister were elected to the parliament in this year’s Lok Sabha polls.
This included two MLAs from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including a cabinet minister, along with one each from alliance partners Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), United Peoples Party Liberal (UPPL), and one from the opposition Congress.
Dholai Assembly seat fell vacant after former cabinet minister Parimal Suklabaidya (BJP) won from the Silchar Lok Sabha seat. Similarly, senior BJP leader Ranjit Dutta vacated the Behali Assembly seat as he was elected to the lower house of the parliament.
The AGP opened its account in the parliament with its senior leader Phani Bhusan Choudhury being elected from the Barpeta Lok Sabha seat. The party contested in two parliamentary constituencies in the state. However, it lost polls in Dhubri to Congress candidate Rakibul Hussain.
Choudhury was a six-time MLA from the Bongaigaon Assembly segment. When AGP fielded him from the Barpeta Lok Sabha seat, supporters of Choudhury opposed the party’s decision and urged Choudhury to remain the MLA of Bongaigaon.
Samuguri Assembly seat was vacated by Congress leader Rakibul Hussain who defeated the three-time AIUDF MP and party chief Badruddin Ajmal in the Dhubri Lok Sabha seat with a margin of more than 10 lakh votes.
UPPL's Joyanta Basumatary, the former MLA from Sidli, also made headlines by securing the Kokrajhar Lok Sabha seat.
Bhabhesh Kalita, the state BJP president said, “Our party will contest in three of the five Assembly constituencies, while the AGP and another ally, the UPPL, will each contest one seat.”
He stated that the BJP would field candidates in Samaguri, Dholai and Bihali Assembly seats.
Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) is set to contest polls in the Bongaigaon Assembly seat and UPPL will field a candidate in the Sidli Assembly constituency.
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