Senior Congress leader and the leader of opposition in the Assam assembly, Debabrata Saikia, on Friday filed his nomination to contest the upcoming Assam assembly elections from the 97-Nazira constituency in the Sivasagar district.
Debabrata Saikia first won the Nazira seat in the 2011 elections and has held the constituency since then.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the poll schedule last Sunday (March 15), fixing the date of voting in Assam on April 9 and the last date of filing nominations on March 23. With political parties close to finalising their list of candidates, the filing of nominations has begun, which will be followed by extensive campaigning in the lead-up to the polls.
Candidates to File Nominations Today
Friday witnessed several big faces submitting their bid to contest in the polls. For the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and cabinet minister Pijush Hazarika filed their nominations today.
Elsewhere, Raijor Dal chief Akhil Gogoi filed his nomination to contest from the Sivasagar constituency, which he currently holds. Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) president Lurinjyoti Gogoi also submitted his bid to contest from the Khowang seat in the Dibrugarh district. The duo form part of the united opposition front led by the Congress in Assam.
Meanwhile, the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) chief Pramod Boro also filed his nomination today to contest from the Tamulpur assembly constituency. He exuded confidence that his party would win 10 to 12 seats, even as it contests outside the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) framework this year.
The voting in Assam is set to be held on April 9 in a single phase across all 126 assembly seats, with the counting to be done on May 4.
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