Sonowal, Gaurav Gogoi among 35 candidates in fray for first phase Assam polls

They include BJP MLA and former minister Ranjit Dutta, Congress candidate Prem Lal Ganju and AAPs Rishiraj Kaundilya.

Altogether 35 candidates, including Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi, are left in the fray for the first phase polls in Assam on April 19, with the withdrawal of one person on Saturday, an election official said.

A total of 38 candidates had filed their papers for the polls to the five constituencies --Kaziranga, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur and Sonitpur. One person withdrew his nomination on the last day of withdrawal on Saturday while the nomination papers of two other candidates were rejected during scrutiny on Thursday.

In Jorhat, an independent Baba Kurmi withdrew his nomination, leaving four candidates in the fray including sitting BJP MP Topon Gogoi and Lok Sabha Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Congress candidate Gaurav Gogoi.

Nomination papers of Republican Party of India's (Athawale) candidate Faisal Ahmed Majumdar (Kaziranga) and independent Mahendra Orang (Sonitpur) were rejected.

Kaziranga, the erstwhile Kaliabor constituency which was renamed during the delimitation exercise in the state, has the highest number of 11 candidates, including BJP Rajya Sabha MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa and Congress contestant Roselina Tirkey.

In Dibrugarh, three candidates are in the fray including Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal of BJP, Assam Jatiya Parishad president Lurinjyoti Gogoi as the unified opposition candidate, and Aam Aadmi Party candidate Manoj Dhanowar.

Eight candidates are in the fray in Sonitpur. They include BJP MLA and former minister Ranjit Dutta, Congress candidate Prem Lal Ganju and AAP's Rishiraj Kaundilya. In Lakhimpur, nine candidates will contest the polls with the main fight being between sitting BJP MP Pradan Baruah and Congress candidate Uday Shankar Hazarika.

In the outgoing Lok Sabha, BJP held nine seats, Congress three, AIUDF and an independent one each from the state.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)