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Polling for the Lok Sabha across 14 seats in Assam will be held in three phases, the Election Commission (EC) announced on Saturday.
Of the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in the electorally significant Northeast state, Dibrugarh, Jorhat and Dhubri will be in focus going into the Lok Sabha elections. Union Minister and former chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal is the BJP candidate from Dibrugarh and is pitted against Lurin Jyoti Gogoi of the Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), a coalition of 16 local Opposition outfits in the state. In Jorhat, the ruling BJP has fielded sitting MP Topon Gogoi and standing against him will the deputy leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi. In Dhubri, a Muslim-dominated constituency, AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal, who has been elected thrice from this seat, will go to battle against Congress MLA Rakibul Hussain. The BJP has set aside this seat to ruling ally in the state, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), which has fielded Javed Islam. The Guwahati seat will see a straight fight between Bijuli Kalita Medhi of the BJP and Assam Pradesh Mahila Congress president Mira Barthakur Goswami. In Nagaon, sitting Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi will take on AIUDF candidate Aminul Islam and the BJP's Suresh Bora. In Kaziranga, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa will take on former Congress MLA Roselina Tirkey. From Silchar, the BJP has fielded state Transport Minister Parimal Suklabaidya while sitting MLA Ranjit Dutta will contest Sonitpur on a BJP ticket. The three-phased polling for the Lok Sabha in the state will be held on April 19, April 26 and May 7. As part of a deal reached between the ruling allies in the state earlier, the BJP will contest 11 of 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state, while the AGP will contest two seats (Barpeta and Dhubri) and the United Peoples' Party Liberal (UPPL) one (Kokrajhar). More than 2.43 crore registered voters in the state, including 1.21 crore women, will exercise their franchise in the polling for the Lok Sabha. (ANI)
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