New Delhi/ Guwahati, March 20 The Congress released its fourth list of seven party candidates for the April 9 Assembly elections in Assam, dropping a sitting MLA, while leaving 11 seats for its alliance partner, Raijor Dal.
With this, the Congress has announced a total of 94 party candidates for the 126-member Assam Assembly elections, which it is contesting as part of a six-party alliance.
The party had earlier announced that it would leave 15 seats for its allies.
The party's Central Election Committee selected the candidates for the elections to the 126-member Assam Legislative Assembly.
The incumbent MLA, Bhaskar Baruah from Titabor, has been replaced by Pran Kurmi.
Titabor, which is adjacent to the Jorhat constituency from where state Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi is contesting, has traditionally been a stronghold of the Gogoi family, with former chief minister Tarun Gogoi having represented it earlier.
The party has nominated Bidisha Neog to challenge Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in Jalukbari.
Former state NSUI president, Joy Prakash Das, will contest from Nowboicha, while Udalguri district Youth Congress chief, Rohit Pariga, will contest from Tangla. Gyandip Mohan has been fielded from Mahmora. The other candidates announced are Jayanta Borah from Biswanath and Rahul Roy from Hailakandi.
The seats left for alliance partner, Raijor Dal, include Manas, Dalgaon, Dhing, Kaliabor, Tezpur, Sissibargaon, Margherita, Digboi, Sibsagar, Mariani, and Bokakhat.
The Congress released its third list of 22 candidates on Thursday, which included four sitting MLAs, two of whom are working presidents of the state unit.
The first list of 42 candidates was announced on March 3, followed by another list of 23 aspirants on March 14.
The Congress is leading an alliance of opposition parties – Raijor Dal, CPI(M), Assam Jatiya Parishad, CPI (ML) Liberation, and All Party Hill Leaders Conference.
Among its candidates named previously are Gaurav Gogoi from Jorhat, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, Debabrata Saikia from Nazira, and former Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president, Ripun Bora from Barchalla.
The Congress has been out of power in the northeastern state since 2016, while the BJP-led government will be eyeing a third consecutive term.
In the outgoing Assembly, the ruling BJP has 64 MLAs, while its allies AGP has nine MLAs, UPPL has seven, and BPF has three members.
In the opposition camp, the Congress has 26 MLAs, AIUDF has 15 members, and CPI(M) has one MLA. There is also an Independent legislator.
The elections to the 126-member Assam assembly will be held on April 9. Votes will be counted on May 4.