Mamata Banerjee accuses the BJP of importing voters for the Assam elections and plotting similar interference in West Bengal, raising concerns about electoral integrity and potential cultural restrictions.
The Congress and Raijor Dal have finalised a seat-sharing agreement for the Assam assembly elections, with Congress leaving 11 constituencies for Raijor Dal and a friendly contest in two others. The alliance aims to defeat the BJP government.
The delimitation of constituencies, which aimed to reduce the influence of minority candidates, is a significant factor in the NDA's strong performance in the Assam elections, where they secured a record 102 seats. The 2023 delimitation exercise redrew constituencies, reserving some Muslim-majority seats for indigenous communities, which increased the BJP and its allies' seat count.
'Once demographic fear becomes campaign language, it legitimises social targeting.'
Total number of 722 candidates are in the fray for 126 seats.
'I repeatedly contacted the party leadership, but they didn't take my calls. The District Congress Committee offered no assistance.' 'I waited for a long time, and when no response came, I decided to quit the party.'
In its list of 26 candidates for Thursday's assembly elections, 13 are from the Bengali-speaking Muslim community -- a demographic that was at the centre of the original Assam agitation.
The Congress party has accused the government of scheduling a 'special session' to pass bills related to women's quota and delimitation with the intention of gaining political advantage in the upcoming West Bengal and Tamil Nadu elections, calling it a violation of the model code of conduct.
Gogoi says BJP will suffer the same fate as Bihar in Assam if secular forces unite.
The ruling Congress and the All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC) have the highest number of ten contestants each while the ruling party's coalition partner Bodoland Peoples' Front (BPF) has four contestants, including two sitting MLAs, in the fray.
Jailed activist Akhil Gogoi will contest the upcoming elections in Assam from Sibsagar as a candidate of his newly-floated Raijor Dal.
Party general secretary Arun Singh told a press conference that Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal will contest from Majuli and minister Himanta Biswa Sarma from Jalukbari, constituencies these two top BJP state leaders currently represent in the 126-member assembly.
In its manifesto, the Congress also promised five lakh government jobs and 200 units of free electricity per month for all, besides hiking the minimum wages of tea garden workers to Rs 365.
APCC president Ripun Bora said following discussions with various parties, it has been decided that the Congress will join hands with the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India-Marxist, Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist and the Anchalik Gana Morcha.
A voter turnout of 72.14 per cent was recorded in Assam till 5 pm on Saturday in the first phase of assembly elections in the state, the Election Commission said.
Dev asserted that the Congress and the grand alliance believe in accountability and the guarantee of jobs.
Yadav, during his first visit to Guwahati, said he has already spoken to Congress and will hold talks with the All India United Democratic Front later in the day to formalise the alliance.
After the 18-member 'Assam Advisory Committee' suggested the two organisations to form a political party, a source close to the development said the new outfit will be launched within the next 10 days.
The elections in the five states, the first major exercise since the UPA coalition government came to power 20 months back, will start on April 3 and end on May 8.
The outfit's vice-chairman Pradip Gogoi said that the outfit had already announced that it would boycott the polls and maintain a neutral stand.
At least 117 Electronic Voting Machines malfunctioned and were replaced during the first phase of assembly polls in 65 constituencies in Assam, where the two-phase election process started Monday.
Bodo tribals influence as many as 30 seats. No wonder, national parties are keen to forge alliances with Bodo groups.
A forum of families of victims of insurgency in Assam has called upon the Election Commission not to entertain nominations filed by former militants to contest the ensuing assembly election in the state.
The list of Congress candidates from Assam may be reviewed following pressure from state party leaders. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan may have played favourites during the selection, reports Renu Mittal.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and Speaker Tanka Bahadur Rai figure in the Congress's list of 118 candidates for the Assam assembly elections. The Congress finalised the names of all 118 candidates of the 126-member state assembly at a meeting of the party's election committee chaired by Sonia Gandhi on Saturday. The party is seeking a third consecutive term in power in Assam. The state will witness polling in two phases with the first phase covering 62 assembly seats on April 4.
Illegal influx of Bangladeshis into Assam tops the campaign issue for opposition Asom Gana Parishad and Bharatiya Janata Party for the forthcoming Assembly polls in the state with ruling Congress trying hard to underplay it.
Mudslinging and verbal attacks will definitely surge once the poll dates are announced, but as with any state, there are some crucial issues which will play a significant role in influencing voters in Assam too, says Devanik Saha.
The ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance is surging ahead of the Grand Alliance spearheaded by the Congress in Assam.
With the first phase of Assembly elections in Assam slated for April 4, and the second phase on April 11, it appears that the ruling Congress is all set to stage a comeback under the leadership of Tarun Kumar Gogoi.
In the wake of Team India's stupendous win against Pakistan at Mohali, the World Cup mood has spilled into the election campaigning even in the far flung Assam on Friday.
Getting ready to fight the next assembly election in Assam in 2016 on the 'U-turns' on state issues made by the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the Centre, the ruling Congress government in Assam has brought out a handbook for its party workers highlighting the 'failures' of the Narendra Modi government to fulfil promises made to people of the state.
A graphic on constituencies in the 1st phase of the Assam polls.
The AGP, which has ruled the state on its own twice, will play the junior partner and contest 24 seats while the rest 126 will be divided among BJP and three smaller outfits, with the saffron party leading the alliance.
While main political parties especially Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party are engaging in high-voltage campaign in Assam, young voters, especially the first timers, sound at a loss about which party or the candidate to choose, as they are hardly convinced about the poll promises and have not been swayed by histrionics of poll candidates.
At least 22 people were injured and one of them hospitalised, as forces baton charged voters and fired in air twice to scare away a rampaging mob which torched a police vehicle in Rangiya constituency in the final and last phase of polling at 64 of the 126 Assam assembly seats on Monday.
Large dams and flood problems are campaign issues both for the Congress and Asom Gana Parishad locked in direct contest in most of the six assembly seats in THE flood-prone Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts which go to the polls on April 4.
Security personnel had to resort to firing when a mob tried to storm into a vote counting station in western Assam's Dhubri district at around 10.30 am on Friday today, killing three persons and injuring at least five.
The victory of the Bodoland People's Front, the Congress's coalition partner since 2006, in all the 11 assembly constituencies in the Bodoland Territorial Council areas will be crucial for the ruling party's win in the forthcoming assembly elections.But for the support of the BPF, which is headed by the former leader of the now disbanded Bodo Liberation Tiger Hagrama Mohilary, the Congress, which had only 53 seats in its kitty, would not have been able to form the state govt.
Electioneering for the third and the final phase of polling in Assam to be held on April 24 in six constituencies - Gauhati, Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Barpeta, Mangaldoi and Nowgong -- came to an end on Tuesday afternoon with the election department expecting a high turn out on the basis of overwhelming response of voters in the last two phases of polling in the state.
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