ASSAM TIMES POST
Guwahati, : Byelections to four assembly constituencies of Rangapara, Sonari, Ratabari and Jania will be held on Monday to decide the fate of 20 contestants.
Polling officials with EVMS and VVPATS today moved to the 830 polling stations across the four constituencies where the bypolls were necessitated with two sitting BJP MLAs and ministers Pallab Lochan Das (Rangapara) and Tapan Gogoi (Sonari),
Deputy Speaker Kripanath Mallah (Ratabari) and Congress MLA Abdul Khaleque (Jania) elected to the Lok Sabha, election office here said.
In Rangapara, five candidates are in the fray with the contest likely to be direct betweeh Rajen Bortakur of BJP and Kartik Kurmi of Congress while the other candidates are Royal Soreng of CPI(M), Sanjit Rajbangshi of SUCI (Communist) and Arup Kumar Chowdhury of the Bharatiya Gana Parishad.
In Sonari, there will be a direct contest between the two candidates in fray- BJP’s Nabanita Handique and Sushil Kumar Suri of Congress.
In Ratabari there are four candidates but the fight is likely to be straight between Bijoy Malakar of BJP and Keshab Prasad Rajak of Congress, while Birendra Ravidas (SUCI-Communist) and Parikhit Roy (Independent) are also in the fray.
Jania has the highest of nine candidates in the poll arena with the contest likely to be triangular among actor-politician Towfiqur Rahman (BJP), Samsul Hoque (INC) and Rafiqul Islam (AIUDF). The others are Chand Mahmud (NPP), Faruk Khan (AAP), Rustom Ali (CPI-M), Abdul Jalil Talukdar (Ind), Rafikul Islam (Democratic Party of India) and Subhash Sutradhar (Ind).
Assam Government has declared October 21 as Public Holiday under the Negotiable Instruments (NI) Act in the four constituencies to facilitate voting. Results of the by-election will be announced on Thursday, the election office added.
