Guwahati:
Senior leaders of Assam BJP and its alliance partner Asom Gana Parishad(AGP) will hold discussions with the saffron party’s leaders in New Delhi on Wednesday, while Congress leaders are huddled in a resort here to finalise the lists of candidates for the coming three-phase assembly election in the state, sources in the parties said.
The state BJP and AGP leaders will hold discussions with BJP President J P Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on seat sharing arrangements, North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) convenor Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
The final list of candidates for the first and maybe even the second and third phases will be announced on Thursday by Nadda, he said.
The seat sharing arrangements with BJP’s other partner – the United People’ Party Liberal(UPPL) have been completed without any problems, Sarma added.
“We have resolved almost 98 to 99 per cent issues related to seat sharing with AGP over the past several days.
There are just a few issues that the BJP national leaders will decide,” he said.
Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar and BJP leader Jitendra Singh, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, the NEDA convenor, BJP state unit president Ranjeet Dass, BJP’s Assam in-charge Baijyant Panda were engaged in discussions and had left for New Delhi on Monday afternoon.
AGP President Atul Bora, in whose residence several rounds of talks were held, and the BJP leaders again met this morning.
“Discussions have moved in a positive direction,” Bora said.
Asked whether AGP will contest the same number of seats as in the last state election or more, Bora said that he will not comment on this till the final list is released.
AGP has reportedly asked for more seats than the 30 it had contested in the last assembly election, while BJP has sought more than the 89 seats it had contested in 2016 resulting in the long drawn parleys.
The election committee of Assam Congress are also engaged in seat sharing arrangements with its Grand Alliance partners and probable candidates for the polls at a resort here.
The party’s first list of candidates is expected to be announced in the next 48 hours, AICC general secretary and Assam in-charge Jitendra Singh said.
“We will take into consideration all aspects and analyse issues like prospects of winning or anti-incumbency of sitting MLAs, representation to youths and women,” he said.
After the election committee’s decision the nine-member screening committee constituted by the party president will review it before the final list is announced, he said.
The Congress is contesting the forthcoming polls as a part of the ‘Mahajoth’ or ‘Grand Alliance’ with the AIUDF, the Bodoland Peoples’ Front, the CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(ML) and the Anchalik Gana Morcha.
The newly floated Assam Jatiya Parishad and Raijor Dal, contesting the assembly polls in alliance, are also expected to announce their first list of candidates by March 5.
The nomination for the first phase polls to 47 constituencies, spread over 11 districts in upper Assam, north bank and parts of central Assam, was announced on Tuesday.
The last date of filing of nominations is March 9 and polling will be held on March 27.
The notification for 39 constituencies which will go to the polls in the second phase on April 1 will be issued on March 5. The third and final phase polling on April 6 will be on March 12.
The Assam assembly has 126 constituencies. The BJP had won 60, AGP 14 and BPF 12, Congress 26, AIUDF 13 and an independent one.
