Congress Sees Record Ticket Aspirants Ahead of Assam Elections
Pointing out that several sitting MLAs and a large number of former MLAs, senior Congress leaders and youth leaders are among those who submitted their application forms, he said that Tuesday was the last date for submission of applications
Guwahati: If number of ticket aspirants is any indicator, the opposition Congress is set to face the problem of multiple aspirants in every constituency in poll-bond Assam where more than 600 people including a large number of former MLAs and ministers, youth leaders have submitted applications claiming their candidature for various constituencies of the state.
Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) treasurer Hemahari Pegu said that more than 600 ticket aspirants have so far submitted applications for various constituencies.
Pointing out that several sitting MLAs and a large number of former MLAs, senior Congress leaders and youth leaders are among those who submitted their application forms, he said that Tuesday was the last date for submission of applications. “We are of the view that at least 100 more aspirants would be submitting applications by the end of nomination today,” je said.
Among those who submitted their applications were leaders of opposition. Debabrata Saikia, former minister Pranati Phukan, MLAs Wazed Ali Choudhury, Pradip Sarkar and Abdul Baten Khandkar, former MLA Rozlina Tirkey, and senior Congress leaders Benu Nath, Gopal Sharma, Utpal Gogoi, Deep Bayan, Ajay Gogoi and Manoranjan Buragohain.
Other leaders included Pallavi Saikia, Bidisha Neog, Palakshi Das, Ratul Kalita, Ratul Patowary, Luit Kumar Barman, Kridip Barman, Tanzil Hussain, Mohsin Khan and Jeherul Islam.
The submission of the application also became a show of strength for many aspirants as three-time Chaygaon MLA Rekibuddin Ahmed led a grand procession to the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee headquarters at Rajiv Bhavan in Guwahati to formally submit his nomination papers. The procession, which began from Goraimari, featured hundreds of vehicles decorated with Congress flags, banners, and placards, transforming the route into a display of political strength and organisational reach.
The elections to the 126-member Assam Assembly are scheduled to take place in March-April this year with Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and West Bengal.
The Congress is seeking to retain power in Assam, where it has been out of power for the last two consecutive terms.
It is significant that top Congress leaders held a key strategy meeting on Assam assembly polls with senior observers and the state leadership recently. The meeting took place at the 10, Rajaji Marg residence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in Delhi, where former party chief Rahul Gandhi was also present.
Congress senior observers Bhupesh Baghel and D K Shivakumar were also present at the meeting, besides AICC general secretary, Organisation, KC Venugopal, Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi and the party's AICC general secretary in-charge Jitendra Singh.