Assam Assembly Polls: BJP declares first list for 70 seats

Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday declared names of candidates for 70 seats ahead of Assam Assembly elections.

"We are declaring the names of candidates on 70 seats as of now, out of the 126 seats in Assam Assembly. We are giving 26 seats to Asom Gana Parishad and 8 seats to United People's Party Liberal (UPPL)": said BJP National General Secretary, Arun Singh.

The term of the 14th legislative assembly of Assam is up to 31 May 2021. The Assembly elections for 126 seats will be held in three phases starting from March 27. In 2016 Assembly polls were held in two phases.

A total of 2,32,44,454 electors will elect the candidates in Assam for the 15th legislative assembly of Assam.

Of the 126 seats, the number of reserved seats for SCs is eight and for STs it is 16. The number of polling booths in Assam has been increased from 24,890 to 33,530, an increase of 35.71 per cent.

Addressing a press conference, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora had said: "In Assam, elections shall be held in three phases. The first phase of notification is March 2 and 47 seats in 12 districts will go to the polls. The last date of nomination March 9 and the date of poll is March 27. In the second phase, 39 constituencies in 13 districts will go to the polls on April 1. A total of 41 constituencies in 12 districts will go to polls on April 6."

In 2016, the BJP scripted history and formed the government for the first time in the state ending Congress's 15-year rule. BJP and its allies Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodoland People's Front (BPF) won a combined 86 seats in the 126-member Assam Assembly. BJP bagged 60 seats, AGP 14 and BPF 12 seats. Congress, which ran the state for three straight terms under the leadership of Tarun Gogoi, could manage to win only 26 seats.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP won nine of the 14 parliamentary seats while its allies the AGP and the BPF drew a blank. On the other hand, Congress bagged three seats and the AIUDF and an independent won one seat each.

Earlier in January, the Assam Congress unit had announced that five political parties including Congress, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), Communist Party of India (CPI), CPI(Marxist), CPI(Marxist-Leninist) and Anchalik Gana Morcha would contest the state Assembly polls together to oust the Sonowal government from power.

The BJP is relying heavily on central leadership to return to power again in the state. Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP chief JP Nadda visited the state and addressed the huge gatherings in different parts of the state.

( With inputs from ANI )