NEWS
VIEWS
INTERVIEWS
CAMPAIGN TRAIL
ISSUES '98
MANIFESTOS
OVERHEARD
POLLING BOOTH
INDIA SPEAKS!
YEH HAI INDIA
CHAT

Ultras shoot CPI-ML candidate dead

Electioneering in Assam received a setback on Wednesday when the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) candidate for the Dibrugarh Lok Sabha constituency, Anil Kumar Baruah, was shot dead by suspected United Liberation Front of Asom militants in Nahoroni village near Nahorkotiya.

The two ULFA militants, who came on foot, walked up to Baruah, who was addressing a meeting, and shot him from point blank range.

Two CPI-ML activists, including the party's Jorhat district general secretary Kanaklata Dutta, were seriously injured. Dutta's condition was stated to be serious. She and the other injured party worker, Anju Barkatoky, have been shifted to the Assam Medical College.

However, the election will not be countermanded, according to District Returning Officer MA S Rao.

This was the first attack on a candidate of any political party this time around. ULFA had imposed a ban on election campaign and urged political workers to abstain from poll meetings. They also appealed to the people to stay away from such meetings.

Earlier, the army had foiled an attempt to assassinate Dr Jayashree Goswamy Mahanta, the chief minister's wife, near Nagaon.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report