Assam Lok Sabha Election Phase 3: Key constituencies and candidate

Assam

The third phase of polls in four Lok Sabha seats in Assam - Guwahati, Barpeta, Kokrajhar and Dhubri will be held on May 7. Forty-seven candidates are in the fray in the third phase of polls and more than 81 lakh voters will exercise their franchise.

The BJP’s regional allies have more at stake in the third and final phase of the Lok Sabha election in Assam with the focus on reclaiming the ‘parliamentary space’ for representatives of indigenous or majority communities, believed to have been made easier by the 2023 delimitation.

People in Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Barpeta and Guwahati Lok Sabha constituencies will cast their vote on May 7. The ruling BJP is contesting 11 parliamentary constituencies in the state, leaving two seats for its key ally, AGP, and one seat for UPPL. Elections to 10 Lok Sabha seats in Assam took place in the first two phases.

Altogether 47 candidates are in the fray for the third and final phase of the Lok Sabha elections in four constituencies of Assam on May 7. In this phase BJP is contesting the Guwahati seat. Sitting MP Queen Oja has been dropped, and the BJP has fielded Bijuli Kalita Medhi. Congress has fielded Mira Borthakur. She was earlier in BJP and joined Congress.

Assam recorded 77.35 per cent voter turnout in the second phase of polls, which was held in five parliamentary constituencies in the state on April 26. The state recorded a 78.25 per cent polling percentage in the first phase of polls in five parliamentary constituencies - Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur, Kaziranga and Sonitpur on April 19.

In the high-profile Guwahati constituency, BJP's new face Bijuli Kalita Medhi, who is a vice president of Assam BJP and the former president of the party's women wing in the state, is likely to have a direct contest with Congress first-timer Mira Barthakur Goswami, the president of Assam Pradesh Mahila Congress.

From the ruling front, AGP has nominated senior leader, former minister and sitting Bongaigaon MLA Phani Bhusan Choudhury to contest from Barpeta. Congress nominated its state Seva Dal chief Deep Bayan from Barpeta, while CPI(M) has named its lone MLA in the state Assembly Manoranjan Talukdar for the seat.