Cultivators, housewives, full-time politicians in fray for first phase Assam polls

Guwahati: Cultivators, businessmen, retired government employees, advocates, housewives and full-time politicians are among the candidates in fray for the first phase of polls to five constituencies in Assam on April 19.

Among them, eight nominees, including incumbent BJP MPs Topon Gogoi and Pradan Barua, are cultivators who also engage in full-time politics, according to their submitted affidavits.

Assam Jatiya Parishad president and opposition candidate for Dibrugarh constituency, Lurinjyoti Gogoi, is a farmer, deriving his income from agriculture, his affidavit said.

Union minister and BJP's Dibrugarh candidate Sarbananda Sonowal, along with BJP's Kaziranga nominee Kamakhya Prasad Tasa and Congress's Jorhat aspirant Gaurav Gogoi, have declared their occupation as politicians, drawing salary as MPs.

BJP's Sonitpur candidate and MLA Ranjit Dutta is also a full-time politician, while his family members are involved in various businesses, including a fuel service station, tea garden, and brick industry.

Dibrugarh's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) contestant Manoj Dhanowar has also submitted that he is a politician and a social worker while his wife is a teacher and the managing trustee of an educational and sports foundation.

Congress's Kaziranga candidate Roselina Tirkey is also a full-time politician.

A former government engineer, insurance official and a private firm worker are among the retired persons contesting in the first phase.

Two housewives, a full-time politician and a businesswoman are among four women candidates in the fray for the first phase polls.

Kaziranga parliamentary constituency has the highest number of women candidates. While Tirkey is the Congress nominee, Anima Deka Gupta of Voters International Party is a housewife and independent Diluwara Begum Chowdhury is a businesswoman owning a dealership of a leading oil PSU.

Another female candidate, Rinku Roy, is contesting from Sonitpur, while the remaining three constituencies in the first phase have no women candidates.

Saleh Ahmed Mazumdar of the Republican Party of India, contesting from Kaziranga, works as a private tutor, while another candidate, Pallab Pal Pegu of SUCI(Communist), contesting from Lakhimpur, has no declared occupation or source of income.

In the first phase polls on April 19, 35 candidates are in the fray for Kaziranga, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Sonitpur and Lakhimpur constituencies.