Guwahati, Mar 24 (PTI) Nominations of 776 candidates were found valid during scrutiny of papers for Assam Assembly elections on Tuesday, with the process adjourned till March 25 for two constituencies, an official statement said.
The scrutiny was completed for 124 constituencies, and it remained pending for Barpeta (SC) and Dhekiajuli seats.
Among the candidates whose papers are yet to be approved are Cabinet minister Ashok Singhal of the BJP, seeking re-election from Dhekiajuli, and the Congress aspirants from Barpeta and Dhekiajuli.
A total of 815 candidates had filed 1,389 nomination sets for the elections, to be held on April 9. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is Thursday up to 3 pm.
According to the Election Commission, 10 candidates filed their nominations for the Dhekiajuli seat. The documents of eight of them have been accepted, while those of Singhal and Congress’ Batash Orang are still shown as ‘applied’ on the EC website.
For Barpeta constituency, four nominees had filed the papers. The nominations of three of them have been accepted, while that of the Congress candidate Mahananda Sarkar Das is marked as ‘applied’.
The Congress’ Abdur Rahim Ahmed represented the Barpeta seat in the outgoing Assembly. Asom Gana Parishad’s Dipak Kumar Das is the ruling alliance’s candidate for the constituency.
The constituency was reserved for SC during the delimitation process in 2023, with the Assembly elections being held for the first time since the exercise. In the outgoing Assembly, the ruling BJP’s strength is 64, while its allies AGP has nine MLAs, UPPL has seven and BPF has three members. In the opposition camp, the Congress’ strength is 26, AIUDF has 15 members, and CPI(M) has one MLA. There is one Independent legislator also.
Counting of votes will be undertaken on May 4. PTI SSG SSG NN
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