Guwahati: The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) on Thursday released its list of candidates for 26 Assembly seats it will contest in the upcoming Assam elections, with party president and cabinet minister Atul Bora set to defend Bokakhat and working president Keshab Mahanta entering the fray from Kaliabor.
The announcement came a day after the BJP’s central election committee formally cleared the 26 seats for its regional ally under the NDA’s seat-sharing arrangement. With this, the AGP has put out its first and final list of candidates for the polls.
Of 26 candidates, 13 are from minority communities.
One of the notable omissions in the list is senior party leader and sitting MLA Ramendra Narayan Kalita. His constituency, Guwahati West, was partially merged with Guwahati Central following the recent delimitation exercise. The BJP has fielded its own candidate, Vijay Kumar Gupta, from the newly configured Guwahati Central seat. Dergaon AGP MLA Bhaben Bharali and Chabua MLA Ponakan Baruah were also dropped.
Delimitation has also reshaped the political map in Upper Assam. Former minister and sitting Amguri MLA Pradip Hazarika will now contest from Sivasagar after the Amguri constituency was abolished and partly merged with Nazira.
The AGP list also reflects the entry of a few new faces who recently joined the party. Former BJP leader Basanta Das has been fielded from Naoboicha, while another recent entrant from the BJP, Prakash Chandra Das, has been nominated from Hajo–Sualkuchi.
Among other prominent candidates, senior AGP leader Tapan Das will contest from Dimoria, while sitting MLA Prithiraj Rabha has been renominated from Tezpur. Sitting MLA Diptimoyee Choudhury will seek re-election from Bongaigaon. The party has also fielded Dipak Kumar Das from Barpeta, Bikash Saikia from Teok and Dr Tara Prasad Das from Paka Betbari. Other nominees include Dharmeswar Ray from Bajali and Jibesh Ray from Bilasipara.
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The party has also accommodated several leaders from minority communities. Sitting AIUDF MLA Karimuddin Barbhuyan, who recently joined the AGP, has been nominated from Sonai.
Other candidates in the list include Ikbal Hussain (Karimganj South), Zabed Islam (Mankachar), Abdul Rashid Zibran (Goalpara East), Jakir Hussain Laskar (Algapur–Katlicherra), Sahabuddin Mazimdar (Binakandi), Jakir Hussain Faradi (Rupahihat), Sahidul Alam (Srijangram), Khalilur Rahman (Laharighat), Saddam Hussain (Chenga), Nurul Islam (Chamaria), Abu Sha Shadi Hossain (Jaleswar) and Mehtabul Haque (Gauripur).
With the candidate list now out, the AGP is preparing to campaign across the state as part of the NDA alliance, hoping to retain its traditional pockets of support while expanding its presence in key constituencies.
