File photo courtesy ECI
By Nava Thakuria
Guwahati: The voting under by-polls in six Assembly constituencies of Assam and Meghalaya, conducted to fill up the vacant seats (as the respective legislators had shifted their focus to national politics after winning the recently conducted Lok Sabha polls), ended largely peacefully with over 70% voters’ turn out, today evening.
The fate of all candidates is stored in the electronic voting machines, which will be opened on November 23, 2024.
Ever since the poll date was announced by the Election Commission of India, Assam’s Samaguri Assembly constituency has made media headlines for the wrong reasons. Frequent tussles between the supporters of various political parties were reported from this constituency in central Assam. Political violence even claimed the life of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporter and left many others injured. An incident of firing was also reported from Mari Puthikhaiti village targeting BJP legislator Jitu Goswami. Three journalists were also allegedly intimidated by the Congress Party supporters.
Several claims and counter-claims were raised by both the ruling BJP and opposition Congress leaders. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, also in charge of the State home portfolio, criticized the opposition Congress Party for resorting to violence under cover of darkness to frighten the BJP workers. The saffron leader however asserted that no one would be allowed to sabotage or undermine the democratic process in the State. The Congress Party leaders responded, alleging that the BJP workers were creating troubles to garner support for their candidate in the by-polls.
Samaguri assembly seat, represented by the Congress Party veteran Rakibul Hussain for five consecutive terms, was vacated after he won the Dhubri Lok Sabha constituency, defeating the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief Badruddin Ajmal by over 10 lakh votes. Now Hussain wants to hand over the Muslim-majority Samaguri constituency to his young son Tanzil Hussain. The ruling BJP also fielded a young leader, and incidentally Diplu Ranjan Sarma was the only non-Muslim candidate in Samaguri as other parties (including Aam Aadmi Party) batted for minority leaders for the by-polls. As the Muslim-centric AIUDF avoided the electoral race in Samaguri, it’s expected to be a frontal battle between the Congress and the BJP candidates here.
Dholai (Schedule Caste) and Behali seats are considered favourable to the BJP. The Dholai seat was vacated by Parimal Suklabaidya, who successfully contested the Lok Sabha polls from the Silchar Parliamentary constituency earlier this year. The Behali seat was vacated by Ranjit Dutta, who successfully contested the Sonitpur Lok Sabha seat.
The BJP has fielded Nihar Ranjan Das in Dholai (contested by Congress candidate Dhrubajyoti Purkayastha and others) and Diganta Ghatowal in Behali Assembly constituency (electorally challenged by former saffron leader Jayanta Bora, Asom Sanmilita Morcha supported CPI(ML) candidate Lakhikanta Kurmi and others).
Sidli (Schedule Tribe) assembly seat was vacated by Jayanta Basumatary (United Peoples’ Party-Liberal) to get elected from the Kokrajhar Lok Sabha seat. Now Nirmal Kumar Brahma is fighting to maintain the seat for the BJP ally against the Congress Party nominee Sanjib Warle and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) candidate Suddha Kr Basumatary. Another important ally of the ruling BJP alliance, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), has given a ticket to Diptimoyee Choudhury from the Bongaigaon seat against Brajenjeet Sinha of the Congress Party. Diptimoyee is the wife of AGP leader Phani Bhusan Choudhury, who represented the seat for four decades and had recently won from the Barpeta Lok Sabha seat, thereby necessitating the by-election in his assembly constituency Bongaigaon.
Not only Choudhury but the same tendency was shown by Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K Sangma also, as he put his wife Mehtab Chandee Agitok Sangma in the by-polls for Gambegre Assembly constituency in Garo hills locality. National People’s Party (NPP) nominee Mehtab Chandee is challenged by the Congress Party candidate Jingjang Marak, the BJP nominee Bernard Marak, and the Trinamool Congress candidate Sadhiarani Sangma. The by-election became necessary as the influential legislator Saleng A Sangma of the Congress Party joined the Lok Sabha as its member from Tura Parliamentary constituency (defeating CM Sangma’s sister Agatha in the last general elections).
Similarly, the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) won both the seats scheduled for by-polls in Sikkim as the opposition candidates withdrew their nominations. State Chief Minister Prem Singh Golay’s son Aditya (Tamang) Golay won from the Soreng-Chakung Assembly seat as his lone opponent Prem Bahadur Bhandari of Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF, led by former CM Pawan Kumar Chamling) preferred not to contest. On the other hand, the Namchi-Singhithang seat went to the SKM nominee Satish Chandra Rai as lone opposition candidate Danial Rai of SDF left the race. The 32-member Sikkim legislative Assembly is now fully dominated by the SKM with no space for the opposition.
*Senior journalist
