Congress Releases Second Assam Candidate List, Leaves Seats for Allies
Congress Releases Second Assam Candidate List, Leaves Seats for Allies
Congress unveils its second list of 23 candidates for Assam polls, carving out 15 seats for alliance partners amid delimitation-driven campaigns.
The Congress on Saturday released its second list of 23 candidates for the upcoming Assam assembly elections, taking the total announced nominees to 65 in the 126-member House. The party also left 15 seats for alliance partners as it pushes a united front in the northeastern state where polls are expected in April. Congress is leading an opposition coalition that includes CPI(M) and Assam Jatiya Parishad, with CPI (ML) Liberation lending its support. The Raijor Dal had been part of the opposition fold in previous elections, but that arrangement has not materialized for the forthcoming polls, and its chief Akhil Gogoi won the last assembly election as an Independent.
In the second list released by Congress general secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal, three sitting MLAs were renominated: Wazed Ali Choudhury (Birsing Jarua), Abul Kalam Rasheed Alam (Goalpara East) and Rakibuddin Ahmed (Chamaria). Former Lok Sabha MP Abdul Khaleque has been named from Mandia. Other notable names include Bipul Gogoi (Tingkhong), Kartik Chandra Kurmi (Rangapara), Santanu Borah (New Guwahati), Kishore Kumar Barua (Dimoria), Nurul Islam (Srijangram) and Devid Phukan (Tinsukia).
The party has set aside several assembly constituencies for its alliance partners, including Bajali, Palasbari, Guwahati Central, Goreswar, Morigaon, Barhampur, Bindakandi, Behali, Dibrugarh and Diphu, among others. Assam last conducted delimitation in 2023, redrawing boundaries but keeping the total number of seats unchanged, a factor shaping campaign strategies ahead of the April election window.
Earlier, on March 3, Congress had released its first list of 42 candidates, with state party chief Gaurav Gogoi contesting from Jorhat. The second list underscores the party’s effort to consolidate the opposition against the BJP in Assam as it lines up seats for its partners and seeks to sustain momentum through the polling season.
Overall, the Assam contest is being watched as a test of how well the anti-incumbency and alliance-building strategy translates into votes in a state where delimitation has already changed the electoral map.
