GUWAHATI: Opposition parties Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) on Tuesday released their first and second lists of candidates respectively for the April 9 elections, with the AJP voicing concerns over the 12-day campaign period.
At a press conference, AJP general secretary Jagadish Bhuyan alleged that the Election Commission had scheduled a single-phase poll with a short campaign window to favour the ruling BJP.
“The regional parties will face significant challenges given the way the election schedule has been prepared. For a small party like ours, it will be very difficult to cover all the constituencies we are contesting,” Bhuyan said.
The last date for withdrawal of candidature is March 26, while April 7 marks the end of the election campaign.
Criticising the single-phase polls, Bhuyan claimed that law and order issues existed even during multi-phase elections in the past.
“During previous multi-phase elections, polling in the first phase was held in Upper Assam. The BJP’s position there is weak, and they feared that if polls started in Upper Assam, anti-BJP sentiment could spread to other regions. To prevent this, a single-phase election was announced,” he alleged.
The AJP is part of a five-party opposition front led by the Congress. The CPI(M), CPI(ML) and All Party Hill Leaders’ Conference are the other constituents.
The AJP’s first list included eight candidates across ten constituencies, with two yet to be finalised. AJP president Lurinjyoti Gogoi will contest from Khowang in Upper Assam, while former Union minister Rajen Gohain will stand from Barhampur in Central Assam.
According to Gogoi, the AJP aims to contest three to four additional seats, including some friendly contests, and discussions are ongoing.
“We had strong candidates and initially submitted a list of 28 constituencies from which we wished to contest. We reduced the number of seats in the interest of the alliance,” Gogoi said.
The AIUDF’s second list includes 12 candidates, among them party chief and perfume baron Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, who will contest from the Binnakandi seat in Central Assam.
Ajmal, a former MP who lost to Congress’ Rakibul Hussain by a record margin in the Dhubri Lok Sabha elections, will now return to Assembly elections after a 20-year gap.
Earlier, the AIUDF had announced nine other candidates. The party remains influential in the Bengali Muslim-majority constituencies of Lower, Central and Southern Assam.