Assam Assembly Elections 2021: Congress announces list of 26 candidates

Guwahati: The Congress on Wednesday released a list of 26 candidates for the Assembly elections in Assam, and appointed senior leaders Mohan Prakash and Jaydev Jena as observers here.

Earlier, the Congress had issued a list of 40 candidates. According to the new list, Pradyut Kumar Bhuyan will contest for polls from Nalbari while Misbahul Islam Laskar will try his luck from Borkhola.

Congress legislative party leader Debobrata Saikia will also contest in polls from Nazira and former Minister Rakibul Hussain will look to win from Samaguri. The Congress on March 7 declared 40 candidates for the Assam Assembly elections.

The party has also named Assam Congress Chief Ripun Bora from Gohpur, Ram Prasad Sharma from Barchalla and Anuj Kumar Mech from Tezpur. The party has also Bismark Gogoi from Khumtai and Rana Goswami from Jorhat who will eye a win in polls.

According to the poll panel, of the total 126 Assembly seats in Assam, eight are reserved for SC candidates and 16 for ST nominees. The Congress for Assam is contesting in alliance with All India United Democratic Front and Bodoland People's Front.

HOJAI MLA SHILADITYA DEV QUITS BJP

On the other side, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has dropped its sitting MLA from Hojai, Shiladitya Dev, and fielded Ramkrishna Ghosh for the elections here. Dev is well-known for his provocative speeches against minorities. Sad with the denial of a ticket, Dev declared that he will quit the BJP.

Dev claims that he has been associated with the party and RSS for the last 30 years. “Finally, I have been kicked out of BJP,” he wrote in a Facebook post. The elections are slated to be held in three phases in Assam.