BJP’s Assam CM candidate files nomination from Majuli

IANS GUWAHATI, MARCH 16 BJP’s chief ministerial candidate for Assam assembly elections Sarbananda Sonowal on Wednesday filed his nomination papers from Majuli (reserve -- ST) constituency in Jorhat district. Sonowal, accompanied by party’s central observer Mahendra Singh, BJP MPs Rameswar Teli and Kamakhya Tasa and other leaders submitted his papers to the sub-divisional officer of Majuli sub-division. Elections to the 126-member Assam assembly will be held in two phases on April 4 and 11. Sonowal represents Lakhimpur parliamentary constituency in the Lok Sabha. It was under Sonowal’s leadership that the party won seven of the total 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam in 2014. Sonowal is also president of the BJP’s Assam unit. The Congress has pitted sitting legislator and former water resources minister Rajiv Lochan Pegu from the assembly constituency. Majuli is a riverine island in the Bramaputra river, with a 153,362 population that is a mix of multiplicity of tribes, according to 2001 census.