Will retain four seats, work hard to win fifth: Himanta on Assam bypolls

GUWAHATI — Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said the ruling NDA will retain all four seats and work hard to snatch the fifth seat from the opposition in the bypolls to be held next month.

By-elections will be held in Dholai, Sidli, Bongaigaon, Behali and Samaguri assembly segments as these seats fell vacant with their MLAs winning the Lok Sabha polls.

“In four out of five constituencies, we had our MLAs and they became parliamentarians. They have taken responsibility for the victory of the candidates in the upcoming bypolls. I am sure that we will be able to retain those four constituencies,” he said.

“In the fifth constituency, we did not have an MLA. As a political party, we will try to win that also. If people bless us, we will be able to represent that seat too,” he added.

BJP MPs Parimal Suklabaidya and Ranjit Dutta were MLAs of Dholai and Behali constituencies. Its ally Asom Gana Parishad’s Phani Bhusan Choudhury represented Bongaigaon for eight consecutive terms since 1985 before stepping into Parliament for the first time.

Also read: BJP-led alliance to win all five seats in upcoming bypolls: Assam Minister

Another NDA constituent United People’s Party Liberal’s Joyanta Basumatary was the MLA of the Sidli constituency before winning the Lok Sabha polls.

Congress MP Rakibul Hussain, who won the Dhubri Lok Sabha seat for a record margin of over 10.12 lakh votes, was the MLA from Samaguri for five consecutive terms.

BJP on Saturday named Nihar Ranjan Das as its candidate for the Dholai seat, Diganta Ghatowar for Behali, and Diplu Sarma for Samaguri. Bongaigaon and Sidli will be contested by AGP and UPPL, respectively.

The polling of the by-elections in the five assembly constituencies will take place on November 13, while the votes will be counted on November 23.