With the Lok Sabha election round the corner, the atmosphere of politics in the country as well as in the state has changed a lot. As many as 14 opposition political parties have met for the past few days with a pledge to contest the elections unitedly, but before the constituency was finally divided, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had fielded its candidates for the three constituencies - Guwahati, Tezpur and Dibrugarh.
After this, the Congress is almost certain to field its own candidates in 13 Lok Sabha seats out of 14, according to party insiders.
However, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Bhupen Bora said he had given a green signal to its candidates for five constituencies and also sent the names of several candidates to Delhi for nine other constituencies.
He also said that they are fully prepared in Assam for the Lok Sabha elections from the grassroots levels starting from the booth committees, block committees, district committees.
The final list of candidates for the 14 constituencies are expected to be named on February 22, the APCC chief mentioned.
Party sources indicate that Jorhat, the newly formed Kaziranga, Nagaon, Dhubri, Diphu, Kokrajhar, Tezpur, Darrang-Udalguri, Guwahati, Barpeta, Karimganj, Silchar, and Jorhat are the 13 Lok Sabha constituencies where the Congress is expected to field candidates. Lurinjyoti Gogoi, the candidate for the Assam Jatiya Parishad, is anticipated to run in Dibrugarh.
Meanwhile, Congress is debating who should be their lead candidate in the Jorhat constituency, with Gaurav Gogoi perhaps contesting from Nagaon. Meanwhile, sitting Nagaon MP Pradyut Bordoloi has previously stated that he will not run for any other constituency. Following this, it is unclear whether sitting MP Bordoloi will pass on his candidacy to any other Congress candidates or whether he will stick to his decision and run for the seat with another party.
The probable shortlisted Congress candidates namely Roujleena Tirkey from Kaziranga, Hafiz Chowdhury from Karimganj, MLA Rakibul Hussain from Dhubri, Naiwritaa Joy Shukla from Silchar, Mira Barthakur from Guwahati, Uday Shankar Hazarika from Lakhimpur, Rita Deka from Barpeta, Garjan Mushahary from Kokrajhar, Joy Ram Engleng from Diphu, Abhijit Hazarika from Tezpur, Madhab Rajbongshi from Darrang-Udalguri are almost certain to contest in the upcoming LS polls.
