The All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Raijor Dal on Sunday announced key changes to their candidate lists for the upcoming Assam Assembly elections, with TMC releasing a consolidated list of nominees and Raijor Dal issuing a revised final list following a seat-sharing agreement with opposition allies.
The TMC released a list of 23 candidates, combining its first and second rounds of announcements, covering constituencies across lower, central and upper Assam, as well as the Barak Valley.
The party has fielded Udangsri Narzary from Baokhungri, Mominur Islam from Bilasipara, Arif Akhtar Ahmed from Jaleswar and Sherman Ali Ahmed from Mandia, among others. In the Kamrup region, Bhoglal Rabha has been named from Boko-Chaygaon (ST), Bikash Nath Yogi from Palasbari and Rojy Ahmed (Funu Das) from Hajo-Sualkuchi (SC), while Avijit Mazumdar will contest from Guwahati Central.
In upper Assam, Narendra Kumar Paw has been fielded from Dhemaji (ST), Jiten Nag from Digboi, Dilip Moran from Makum and Inus Kumar Kandapan from Chabua-Lahowal, while Paresh Borah will contest from Mariani.
In the Barak Valley, the party has nominated Tapas Das from Udharbond, Fazlur Rahman Laskar from Katigorah and Shahajahan Laskar from Sonai. Parimal Ranjan Roy and Aziz Ahmed Khan (Ranu Khan) have been named from Karimganj North and Karimganj South, respectively.
The party also said the candidature of Dulu Ahmed from the Chamaria constituency, announced in its first list, has been withdrawn following an amendment issued on March 22.
Meanwhile, Raijor Dal announced its revised and final list of candidates after entering into an opposition alliance in the state and agreeing to a seat-sharing arrangement, leading to the withdrawal of its nominees from three constituencies.
The list includes party president Akhil Gogoi, who has been renominated from Sibsagar, and Congress MLA Abdur Rashid Mandal, who recently joined Raijor Dal, from East Goalpara. Another Congress MLA, Sherman Ali Ahmed, who had also defected to the party earlier this month, was not given a ticket.
The party initially did not name a candidate for Bokakhat in the revised list, but on Sunday evening it announced Hariprasad Saikia from the seat, replacing Ratan Dao, who had been named earlier.
It named Rahul Chhetry from Margherita after alliance partner Congress’ nominee Prateek Bordoloi withdrew following his father, Lok Sabha MP Pradyut Bordoloi, quitting the Congress to join the BJP.
Other nominees announced by the party include Abul Mian from Gauripur, Anjan Talukdar from Manas, Azizur Rahman from Dalgaon, Mehbob Muktar from Dhing, Pradip Kumar Baruah from Kaliabor, Alok Nath from Tezpur, Dulal Chandra Baruah from Sissiborgaon and Gyanashree Bora from Mariani.
The announcements come amid ongoing seat-sharing negotiations and candidate adjustments among opposition parties ahead of the Assembly polls.
Assam will go to polls on April 9, and the last date for filing nominations is March 23.
