The Big Fight: Battle of Ballots in 7 constituencies of Cachar

March 11: After prolonged wait, Congress declared its list of candidates on Wednesday night, who would contest the ensuing Assam Assembly Elections, 2021 in the second phase. All the seven constituencies in Cachar (Silchar, Sonai, Dholai, Udharbond, Lakhipur, Borkhola and Katigorah) will go for the polls on 1 April, 2021 during the second phase. BJP had already declared its list of candidates last week.

Dipayan Chakraborty was given the ticket by BJP to contest for the prestigious Silchar seat. Sitting MLA Dilip Kumar Paul failed to have his last smile. However, being annoyed, Dilip Kumar Paul, the twice elected MLA from Silchar gave up his primary membership of BJP and preferred to take part in the election from Silchar as an independent candidate. Meanwhile, former Municipal Chairperson, Tamal Kanti Banik has been selected as the Congress candidate from Silchar Assembly Constituency. That means the fight for the Silchar seat will be a triangular one among Dipayan Chakraborty of BJP, Tamal Kanti Banik of Congress and Independent candidate Dilip Kumar Paul.

Sonai Assembly constituency will also witness an interesting contest primarily among three candidates. BJP deposited its faith upon its sitting MLA and former Deputy Speaker Aminul Haque Laskar. Congress gave up this seat for its pre-poll ally AIUDF. Karim Uddin Barbhuiya (Saju) has got the nomination from AIUDF in Sonai. However, the fight between the two will not be so easy as Ashish Haldar, a ticket aspirant from BJP being disgruntled on refusing the party ticket has filed his nomination as an independent candidate in Sonai Assembly constituency. This triangular fight among them will be another interesting battleground during the ensuing poll.

Dholai Assembly constituency has always been a strong bastion of BJP. It’s candidate Parimal Suklabaidya, former Cabinet Minister will be contesting the poll again from Dholai. In reply, Congress has fielded Kamakhya Prasad Mala to directly challenge the BJP. That means the fight for the Dholai seat will be directly between Parimal Suklabaidya of BJP versus Kamakhya Prasad Mala of Congress.

Udharbond for a long time was in the grip of the Congress. However, during the last assembly election, BJP’s Mihir Kanti Shome was successful in defeating Ajit Singh of Congress and thereby winning this seat. Though speculations were ripe in the political circles that Mihir Kanti Shome will not be given the party ticket this time, yet finally, BJP rested its trust once again on Mr Shome. Meanwhile, Congress too has fielded again Ajit Singh from Udharbond. So, in Udharbond too, it appears that there would be a direct contest between the Congress and the BJP.

The Assembly constituency of Lakhipur witnessed many dramatic developments. It’s sitting MLA Rajdip Goala resigned from the Congress party and joined the BJP with the hope that he will be fielded by his new party (BJP) from Lakhipur. However, surprising all, BJP nominated Cachar District President Kaushik Rai as its candidate from Lakhipur, thereby putting a hard brake in the career of Mr. Goala. Meanwhile, Congress has fielded Mukesh Pandey from this seat. Pandey also recently joined the Congress. As none from the Goala family will be contesting from this seat, so there are chances that there will be a tough fight between the Congress and the BJP in Lakhipur.

Borkhola has been the prime cause for delaying publication of the list of contesting candidates by the Congress. If media reports are to be believed, than former Silchar MP Sushmita Dev was in favour of giving the party ticket to Papon Deb. On the otherhand, Rumi Nath was leaving no stones unturned to get the ticket from Borkhola. However, when the list was declared on Thursday night by the Congress party, it was Misbaul Islam Laskar who was named as the party’s candidate from Borkhola. He will be contesting with BJP, s Amalendu Das.

The fight for Katigorah Assembly seat will also be another interesting battle to witness. Former Congress Minister Gautam Roy who shifted his side to BJP was given the party ticket from Katigorah. Mr Roy will be facing Khalil Uddin Mazumdar of Congress over there. Gautam Roy who has earlier won from Katlicherra in Hailakandi will now be fighting the contest from Katigorah in Cachar on BJP’s ticket.

All the seven candidates of BJP will be filing their nominations on 11 March, 2021. Tamal Kanti Banik, Ajit Singh of the Congress are also supposed to submit their nominations on the same day. The big fight this time will be an interesting battle of ballots to be watched.