Guwahati: Polling will be held for four Lok Sabha seats in Assam in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections on May 7. The third phase of polling will be held on May 7 in 94 Lok Sabha constituencies in 12 states across the country. With the conclusion of the third phase of polling, the festival of democracy will come to an end in Assam.
Key battles
A total of 47 candidates are in the fray in all four constituencies Guwahati, Barpeta, Kokrajhar and Dhubri.
Dhubri Lok Sabha constituency
There are 13 candidates in the Dhubri Lok Sabha constituency whose fate will be decided by the voters, but the battle that everyone is expecting is between two heavyweight candidates Rakibul Hussain of Congress and the MP and AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal.
Apart from Priyanka Gandhi holding rallies on behalf of Rakibul Hussain, a minority face of the party and sitting MLA from Samaguri, leaders like Gaurav Gogoi and Akhil Gogoi were also seen campaigning strongly. Especially in the meetings of Akhil Gogoi, there was a huge crowd.
Meanwhile, Badruddin Ajmal, who turned Dhubri into his bastion since 2009 has gained the support of Hyderabad MP and AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, who is known as a staunch pro-Muslim politician. The AIMIM MP urged the voters of Dhubri to elect the three-time MP Ajmal by a huge margin through a video message as he had to cancel his Assam visit to campaign for the AIUDF chief.
The third candidate in the news is former MLA Javed Islam, the AGP candidate of the BJP-led NDA. From Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to AGP leaders like Atul Bora and Keshav Mahanta campaigned for Javed Islam.
Guwahati Lok Sabha segment
The Guwahati Lok Sabha constituency has become a prestige issue for BJP and Congress. The fight in the Guwahati constituency seems to be largely confined between Congress's Mira Borthakur Goswami and BJP's Bijuli Kalita Medhi.
Mira-Bijuli’s shows strength on the streets of Guwahati
In a show of strength, both Congress and BJP took out election rallies in Guwahati during the campaign. A massive bike rally was taken out in Guwahati led by Amit Shah. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also participated in several meetings and bike rallies in support of Bijuli Kalita Medhi.
Similarly, top congress leaders were seen campaigning for Congress candidate Meera Borthakur Goswami. Leaders and workers of the grand old national party were seen displaying strength with huge bike rallies in support of Meera Borthakur.
Barpeta Lok Sabha constituency: In Barpeta this time there are three candidates in the news - BJP alliance candidate Phani Bhusan Chowdhury, CPI (M) nominee Manoranjan Talukdar and Congress candidate Deep Bayan.
Barpeta witnessed campaigns of high-profile leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh besides Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and AGP's Atul Bora on behalf of Phani Bhusan Chowdhury.
On the other hand, the party's national president Mallikarjun Kharge came to campaign for Deep Bayan of the Congress. The CPI (M) candidate was getting support from senior party leaders Sitaram Yechury and Manik Sarkar. Even 95-year-old leader Hemen Das and others campaigned for Manoranjan Talukdar in Barpeta.
Kokrajhar Lok Sabha segment: The ruling opposition battle in the Kokrajhar constituency has also become one of the highlights of this election. With the tribal certificate of Naba Sarania, a two-time MP from the constituency, reserved for tribals, was found to be fake in the court, the political landscape has changed this time in Kokrajhar.
This time the battle is centered around the BJP alliance's United People's Party Liberal (UPPL) candidate Jayanta Basumatary, BPF candidate Kampa Bargayari and Congress candidate Garjan Mushahary. While BJP national president JP Nadda campaigned for the BJP alliance for UPPL candidate Jayanta Basumatary Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was also seen campaigning frequently in the Kokrajhar constituency to regain the seat after the NDA failed to win the seat in the last two elections when the BJP led NDA swept the elections.
