The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) announced on Tuesday that they will not field candidates in any of the five seats in Assam where bypolls are due in the next month.
AIUDF senior leader Rafikul Islam told reporters here: “We have decided not to contest in the upcoming byelections. Supporters of our party suggested that we should rather concentrate on fighting panchayat elections in the state instead of fighting bypolls. The matter was discussed at the highest level of the party leadership and the decision of not contesting bypolls was taken.”
Badruddin Ajmal, chief of AIUDF earlier said, “We have decided to fight polls in Samaguri Assembly constituency. Our party will not contest the rest of the four seats which are heading for byelections.”
Even Ajmal at one point announced that his party would contest three Assembly seats in the upcoming bypoll.
“We are planning to put our candidates in Dholai, Samaguri and Bongaigaon,” he had said.
Ajmal lost to Congress’ Rakibul Hussain by a margin of more than 10 lakh votes in this year’s Lok Sabha polls in Dhubri—a seat he was representing in the lower house of the parliament since 2009.
Meanwhile, Hussain could not be defeated in Samaguri after he won it in the 2001 assembly elections. Bypoll became imminent in this seat after he won this year’s Lok Sabha elections and became an MP.
Hussain’s son Tanjil Hussain was fielded by the Congress party in Samaguri.
On the other hand, the BJP has been eyeing to oust Congress from Samaguri this time. The ruling party has thrown its top leaders into the campaign for the by-elections.
The ruling party has announced candidates for three seats—Dholai, Samaguri and Behali.
Diplu Ranjan Sarma has been given a ticket in Samaguri while Diganta Ghatowar and Nihar Ranjan Das will fight for the BJP in Behali and Dholai assembly segments respectively.
By-elections in five assembly constituencies—Dholai, Samaguri, Behali, Bongaigaon, and Sidli became due following the elections of five legislators in the lower house of the parliament in this year’s Lok Sabha polls.
