Election committee meeting of Assam BJP held to shortlist candidates for assembly polls

March 2: With the last date of nomination for the three-phase Assam Assembly Elections knocking at the doors, the political parties are busy drafting the final list of the candidates. On Tuesday, the Election Committee of Assam BJP held a meeting to shortlist candidates for assembly polls. It has indeed become very difficuly for the ruling BJP to finalise the list of contesting candidates as the number of ticket aspiring candidates have increased manifold. As per sources, the party will finalise the tickets on the basis of performances of candidates. As such, many sitting MLA’s may not be shortlisted and there are chances of many new faces having their last smile.

The Election Committee Meeting of BJP was attended by BJP State President Ranjit Kumar Das, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, Parimal Suklabaidya, Chandramohan Patwary, Dr Jitendra Singh, Dilip Saikia, Phanindra Nath, Rameshwar Teli, Silchar MP Dr. Rajdeep Roy among others. The marathon meeting discussed in details the performance of all existing MLA’s in the light of the wishes and aspirations of each constituency in the state.

Reportedly, Cabinet Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is scheduled to visit the national capital on 3 March to finalise the names of the candidates and the seat sharing formula with AGP. There will be a meeting of AGP leadership with BJP national president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on 3 March. The seat-sharing will be finalised in that meeting. As per sources, the final list of contesting candidates of BJP-AGP in Assam will in all probability be declared by 5 March, 2021.

Election committee meeting of #AssamBJP held to shortlist the candidates for the upcoming #AssamAssemblyElections2021 attended by @nstomar @DrJitendraSingh @PandaJay @sarbanandsonwal @himantabiswa @RanjeetkrDass @DilipSaikia4Bjp @PhanindranathS3 @Rameswar_Teli @ParimalSuklaba1 pic.twitter.com/KubNKBg3Y3

— Dr Rajdeep Roy MP ( MS, MCh) (@drrajdeeproy) March 2, 2021

Last week, President of Assam State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Ranjeet Kumar Das, informed that the final list of BJP-AGP candidates for Assam Assembly elections will be declared in the first week of March. The party President was addressing the media at Pathsala. He further said that the BJP is completely ready for elections. Even much ahead of the declaration of the poll schedule, BJP has been busy in claiming 100 Plus seats for them along with their alliance partners.

The schedule for the forthcoming Assam Assembly Elections, 2021 was declared by Sunil Arora, 23rd Chief Election Commissioner of India (CEC) in an important press conference on 26 February. Assam will go for the assembly polls in three phases on 27 March, 1 & 6 April, 2021. The voting will take place from 7 am to 6 pm. The counting of the votes will take place on 2 May, 2021.

• 1st phase : 27 March, 2021(47 constituencies). The issue of nomination shall be till 2 March, last date of nomination 9 March, scrutiny of nomination 10 March & last date of withdrawal of nomination 12 March.
• 2nd phase :1 April, 2021 (39 constituencies). The issue of nomination shall be till 5 March, last date of nomination 12 March, scrutiny of nomination 15 March & last date of withdrawal of nomination 17 March.
• 3rd phase : 6 April, 2021 (40 constituencies). The issue of nomination shall be till 12 March, last date of nomination 19 March, scrutiny of nomination 20 March, last date of withdrawal of nomination 22 March.

The term of the 126-member (with 8 in SC category and 16 in ST category) Assam Legislative Assembly will expire on 31 May, 2020. Due to COVID-19, every polling station this time will have a maximum of 1000 voters. So naturally, the number of polling stations have been increased. Further, all officials and staff connected with the election will be vaccinated. The elections will be held as per the Covid protocol.