A total of 1,351 candidates will be in the fray from across 12 states and union territories in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 7, according to the Election Commission on Tuesday.
In Assam, there will be 47 candidates vying for votes in the four Lok Sabha seats including the capital Guwahati in the third phase of polling, an official statement said.
The highest number of candidates, that is, 14 will be contesting from Barpeta followed by 13 in Dhubri, 12 in Kokrajhar, and eight in Guwahati. On the last day, five candidates, three in Kokrajhar and two in Dhubri withdrew their nominations, the statement added.
BJP has pitted Bijuli Kalita Medhi against Congress' Mira Borthakur Goswami in Guwahati. The minority-dominated Dhubri seat is set for a three-way tussle between AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal, who is seeking a fourth consecutive term, Congress' Rakibul Hussain and NDA ally AGP candidate Zaved Islam.
Meanwhile, Barpeta is also likely to see a triangular contest between CPI(M) candidate Manoranjan Talukdar, AGP's Phasi Bhusan Choudhury and Congress' Deep Bayan. Barpeta is currently held by Congress stalwart Abdul Khaleque who is not contesting this term.
Furthermore, another NDA ally UPPL's candidate Jayanta Basumatary, Congress' Garjen Mushahary and BPF's Kampa Borgoyary will contest in the Kokrajhar seat.
The deadline for the withdrawal of candidature across all 12 states and union territories was April 22. A total of 2,963 nominations were submitted for 95 seats, which includes Betul.
Following the scrutiny process, 1,563 nominations were deemed valid.
During the third phase, Gujarat led with 658 nomination forms filed across 26 parliamentary constituencies, closely followed by Maharashtra with 519 nominations from 11 seats, as reported by the EC.
