GUWAHATI: Voting for the second phase of the Assam Legislative Assembly Elections will be held on 1 April. Campaigning ended for the Kamrup North’s three constituencies, viz. Hajo, Kamalpur and Rangiya on Tuesday. The general public has started speculating on whether the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will win these seats or will face stiff competition.
The 56 Kamalpur LAC candidate Diganta Kalita is known to be close to senior BJP leader Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma. In the last election held in 2016 Kamalpur seat was won by Asom Gana Parishad’s Satyabrata Kalita who contested as a BJP-AGP alliance candidate. The Modi Wave and BJP’s Tsunami helped Kalita get 78,170 votes whereas his nearest competitor from Congress, Pranjit Choudhury polled 41,261 votes. The Kamalpur LAC has around one lakh eighty four thousand votes. This time, the main fight will be between BJP’s Diganta Kalita and Mahagathbandhan’s (grand alliance) Kishore Bhattacharya. Himanta Biswa Sarma has already campaigned for the BJP candidate and has assured the public that he has taken Diganta Kalita’s guarantee. Being close to Himanta Biswa Sarma is definitely going to help the BJP candidate.
Congress candidate Kishore Bhattacharya is known as a hard working, just man in the constituency and that has brought the much-needed enthusiasm among the party workers. But it is yet to be seen whether this enthusiasm will transform to votes.
The Hajo constituency came into BJP’s fold in 2016 when Suman Haripriya (daughter of veteran BJP leader Bijoya Chakravarty) won the seat with 55,096 votes. Her nearest rival Dulu Ahmed (Congress) got 46,188 votes. There was a lot of speculation that Suman Haripriya won’t be nominated as a BJP candidate this time. But luck and the party’s blessing were on her side and she managed to get the nomination much to the heartburn of her opponents who might play a spoilsport on the D-day. Her immediate rival is again Dulu Ahmed who is contesting this time as Assam Jatiya Parishad’s candidate. Dulu Ahmed is a wealthy candidate, (as per his nomination affidavit) and is also the vice president of AJP. According to sources in Hajo, division of votes between the anti-BJP section and AJP might benefit Suman Haripriya. If the division does not materialize then the BJP candidate will have a tough battle in Hajo this time.
The third constituency in North Kamrup is Rangiya. This seat is represented by BJP minister Bhabesh Kalita who will be contesting against the grand alliance candidate Dr. Bhagawan Mishra of CPI-M. In 2016, BJP’s Bhabesh Kalita polled 58,353 votes and his nearest rival Congress’s Ghanashaym Kalita got 26,286 votes. The factor this time would be Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) who is a part of the Mahagathbandhan. The BPF factor will surely help Dr. Bhagwan Mishra. Moreover, the AIUDF candidate received 14,411 votes in 2016 and these votes will majorly go to the grand alliance’s candidate. In such a scenario BJP candidate and Assam minister is going to have a tough fight in the Rangiya constituency. Both the candidates have campaigned aggressively and there is no surety on who will have the last laugh on 2 May (counting day).
