The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday announced its decision to withdraw its candidate Bhaben Choudhury from the Guwahati Lok Sabha seat “in the interest of Opposition unity”. Choudhury is the President of AAP in Assam.
The party said that it will now contest from Dibrugarh and Sonitpur constituencies only and has urged the Congress to withdraw it candidates from these two seats.
Congress has not fielded any candidate in Dibrugarh. It has left the seat for its ally, Assam Jatiya Parishad. AJP leader Lurinjyoti Gogoi would be contesting from the Dibrugarh seat. The party has fielded Prem Lal Ganju from Sonitpur.
In a tweet on X, AAP said that if the Congress does not withdraw its candidates, it would mean it wants the BJP to win from Dibrugarh and Sonitpur.
Taking to X AAP wrote,”AAP withdraws it’s candidate from Assam’s Guwahati Lok Sabha seat so that Anti-BJP votes do not split.
This is despite AAP getting 2nd highest votes in GMC elections last year.
AAP will fight on 2 Lok Sabha seats in Assam.
1. Sonitpur
2. Dibrugarh
AAP appeals to Congress to reciprocate and withdraw their candidature from these two seats, or it would mean that Congress wants BJP to win at these two seats.”
In another tweet, AAP wrote, “We, the Aam Aadmi Party, have given up the Guwahati seat in the interest of Opposition unity. We demand the leadership of the Opposition Unity that you also give up the two seats in Dibrugarh and Sonitpur,”
Congress would be contesting 13 of the 14 Assam Lok Sabha seats. On March 12, the Congress released a list of 12 candidates.
Following are the names of the Congress candidates and their constituencies contesting from Assam:
- Jorhat: Gaurav Gogoi
- Nagaon: Pradyut Bordoloi
- Dhubri: Rakibul Hussain
- Darang–Udalguri: Madhab Rabanshi
- Gauhati: Meera Borthakur Goswami
- Kokrajhar: Garjan Mashhary
- Barpeta: Deep Bayan
- Diphu: Joyram Engleng
- Karimganj: Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury
- Silchar: Surjya Kanta Sarkar
- Kaziranga: Roselina Tirkey
- Sonitpur: Prem Lal Ganju
Earlier, on February 8, AAP MP Sandeep Pathak announced that AAP candidate Manoj Dhanohar will contest from Dibrugarh and Rishi Raj from Sonitpur.
