The All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Raijor Dal on Sunday announced major changes in their candidate lists for the upcoming Assam Assembly elections, with the TMC releasing a consolidated list of candidates and the Raijor Dal releasing a revised final list following a seat-sharing agreement with opposition allies.
The TMC released a list of 23 candidates, combining the first and second rounds of advertisements, covering constituencies across lower, middle and upper Assam, as well as the Barak Valley.
The party included Udangsree Narzary from Bawkhongri, Momnur Islam from Bilaspara, Arif Akhtar Ahmed from Jaliswar, Sherman Ali Ahmed from Mandya, among others. In Kamrup district, Bahjalal Rabha has been named from Pukko Chaigaon (ST), Bikash Nath Yogi from Palaspari and Ruji Ahmed (Phonu Das) from Hajo Suwalkuchi (SC), while Avijit Mazumdar will contest from Guwahati Central.
In Upper Assam, Narendra Kumar Bau from Dhemaji (ST), Jiten Nag from Digboi, Dilip Moran from Makum and Enus Kumar Kandappan from Chabua Lahawal have been fielded, while Paresh Borah from Mariani will contest.
In Barak Valley, the party nominated Tapas Das from Udarbund, Fazlur Rehman Laskar from Katigurah, and Shahjahan Laskar from Sonai. Parimal Ranjan Roy and Aziz Ahmed Khan (Rano Khan) were named from North Karimganj and South Karimganj respectively.
The party also said that Dollo Ahmed’s candidacy for Chamaria constituency, which it announced in its first list, has been withdrawn following the March 22 amendment.
Meanwhile, the Raijor Dal announced its revised and final list of candidates after entering into an opposition alliance in the state and agreeing to a seat-sharing arrangement, leading to the withdrawal of its candidates from three constituencies.
The list includes party president Akhil Gogoi, who was renominated from Sibsagar, and Congress MLA Abdul Rashid Mandal, who recently joined Raijor Dal, from East Goalpara. Another Congress member, Sherman Ali Ahmed, who also defected to the party earlier this month, did not get a ticket.
The party did not initially name a candidate for Bokakhat in the revised list, but on Sunday evening it announced Hariprasad Saikia from the seat, replacing Ratan Dhao, who was named earlier.
Rahul Chhetri was named from Margherita after alliance partner Congress candidate Pratik Bordoloi withdrew after his father, Lok Sabha MP Pradyut Bordoloi, quit the Congress to join the BJP.
Other candidates announced by the party include Abu Mian from Gauripur, Anjan Talukdar from Manas, Azizur Rahman from Dalgaon, Mehboob Mukhtar from Dhing, Pradeep Kumar Baruah from Kaliapur, Alok Nath from Tezpur, Dulal Chandra Baruah from Sisipurgaon and Giyanashree Borah from Mariani.
These announcements come amid ongoing seat-sharing negotiations and candidate adjustments between opposition parties ahead of the Assembly elections.
Assam is scheduled to go to the polls on April 9, and the last date for filing nominations is March 23.
