The wait for the Congress to announce its nominations is only growing lengthier as the burden of last year’s delimitation process falls heavily on all three of its incumbent MPs from the state, even as the BJP declared 11 candidates on Saturday for Assam’s 14 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The last time around, the BJP had won nine seats, while the Congress had won three.
Due to modifications resulting from the delimitation process, two Congress parliamentarians, MPs Gaurav Gogoi of Kaliabor and MP Pradyut Bordoloi of Nagaon, are now competing for the Nagaon seat, and MP Abdul Khaleque of Barpeta is requesting a ticket from Dhubri, despite the party’s apparent desire to field MLA Rakibul Hussain of Samaguri from the seat. Borah stated that the leadership has selected a candidate and refuted rumors regarding the Dhubri seat. The seat is now held by Badruddin Ajmal, the leader of the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), although it has been expanded to include a large geographic region by adding several minority-dominated Assembly seats from Barpeta, which typically elects minority candidates.
Given that the minority community will no longer have a deciding influence in Barpeta, Khaleque is probably eager to switch seats. The MP claims that because of the constituency redistricting, Dhubri is now his home seat.
According to sources, Khaleque even wrote to AICC Assam in-charge Jitendra Singh Alwar to voice his dissatisfaction with the way the party was run. He also allegedly claimed that Hussain’s candidacy was decided upon before being reviewed by the party’s central and state election committees.
