Guwahati:

The Congress in Assam has announced the names of its candidates for 40 seats in the first of the three-phase election. The party has allowed all its MLAs to recontest in the Upper Assam region, which will vote on March 27.

Leader of Opposition Debabtata Saikia will contest from his traditional seat, Nazira. Former minister Rakibul Hussain will contest from Samuguri.

Tea workers’ tribe MLAs of Congress, Rupjyoti Kurmi will contest from Mariani, and Roselina Tirkey from Sarupather.

Golaghat Bitupan Saikia, who left the BJP and joined Congress, will fight from Golaghat. In the same seat, former Congress minister Ajanta Neog, who joined BJP, has been given ticket by the BJP.

Rajib Lochan Pegu will contest from Majuli (ST) seat. Rana Goswami will fight the election from Jorhat. The other key seats in this list are Tezpur, from where Anuj Kumar Mech will contest; Dibrugarh, from where Rajkumar Nilanetra Neog will contest, and Digboi, from where Sibanath Chetia will fight.

The Congress is looking to claw back to power amid a formidable challenge thrown by the ruling BJP, which has used Prime Minister Narendra Modi in its election campaign.

The Congress-led “mahajoth” or grand alliance has AIUDF, BPF, CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML) and the Anchalik Gana Morcha as its allies. The Congress is engaged in hectic talks with its partners and also within the party over seat-sharing.

Below is the list of Congress candidates for the 40 seats:

Congress Assam List For 40 Seats by NDTV on Scribd

The election to the 126-member Assam legislative assembly will be held in three phases, beginning March 27.