Campaigning came to an end on Saturday for the 65 legislative Assembly constituencies in Assam, which are going to polls on the first phase on Monday.
While there are 539 candidates are contesting the first phase of polls in the 65 constituencies, another 525 candidates are in the fray for the second phase of polls for 61 constituencies to be held on April 11. The 539 candidates include 65 Congress candidates, 54 BJP candidates, 27 AIUDF candidates, 11 AGP candidates, 280 Independents and some other candidates put up by smaller parties and some unregistered political parties.
The elections in Assam are fought on different issues this time including development, peace, infiltration from Bangladesh, and citizenship to the Bengali Hindus in Assam’s Barak valley. While the ruling Congress is highlighting the peace and development card to woo the voters in the 65 constituencies in the first phase, including mainly the tea belt areas of the state in Upper Assam, north bank of Brahmaputra river and Barak Valley, the BJP is desperately trying to create a wave like the 2014 lok sabha polls not only riding in the anti-incumbency factor but by promising to end the infiltration from Bangladesh and assuring citizenship to Hindu migrants from Bangladesh in Barak Valley.
The AIUDF led by perfume trader Moulana Badruddin Ajmal, on the other hand, is trying to cash in on the religious sentiments to win the polls. Ajmal had already urged the Muslim voters in the state to unite to defeat the BJP and its allies. The AIUDF, which is putting up candidates in 60 constituencies only, has also said that the party is leaving the rest 66 seats to help the Congress candidates.
While the Congress has intensified its poll campaign by star campaigners including AICC president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, former Ministers Anand Sharma, Jairam Ramesh, Kamal Nath.
the saffron party has also brought in Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP national President Amit Shah, foreign minister Sushma Swaraj, HRD minister Smriti Irani and many more.
While Sonia Gandhi has already attended two public rallies followed by six rallies by Rahul Gandhi in the state, start campaigners of the BJP had also addressed several rallies in different parts of the poll bound state. The Prime Minister had already addressed seven rallies trying to woo the voters in tea belt and in the Barak Valley.
Besides the other start campaigners of the Congress, state Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has been campaigning for most of the candidates in Upper Assam and in Barak Valley.
“We are going to become the single largest party and will get no less than 71 seats out of the total 126 seats. I am sure that the Congress is going to win in 41 assembly seats out of the total 65 constituencies going to polls in first phase on April 4,” said Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) Anjan Dutta on Saturday. Dutta said that the Congress would win between eight to nine assembly seats out of the total 15 assembly seats in Barak Balley.
It may be mentioned here that the Congress is going to polls with United Peoples’ Party (UPP), a lesser known political party active in Assam Bodoland Territorial Areas Districts (BTAD) this time while the BJP has formed an alliance with the Asom Gana Parishad and the Bodoland Peoples’ front (BPF), the ruling party in Bodoland Territorial Council that runs administration in the BTAD.
The AGP and BJP also addressed a joint press conference today and appealed the people of Assam to vote for the BJP-AGP-BPF alliance for a change and development of the state.