Assam: AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal to contest Nagaon Lok Sabha by-election

All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) on Tuesday announced its party president Badruddin Ajmal as the candidate for the forthcoming by-election to the Nagaon Lok Sabha seat in Assam. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition Congress and Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) already announced candidates for the seat where polling will take place on October 6.

Seventy-year-old Ajmal is a former Lok Sabha MP and is at present a legislator from the Binnakandi seat in Hojai district. He represented the Dhubri Lok Sabha seat from 2009 to 2024.

Also Read:Mamata Banerjee-led TMC announces candidates for Bengal, Assam bypolls

“It will be a one-sided contest in Nagaon and I will win with overwhelming majority. It will be a contest between us and the BJP and Congress will not be a factor this time,” he said.

The ruling BJP named former IAS officer, Devasish Sharma, who took voluntary retirement as deputy commissioner of Nagaon earlier this month, as its candidate for the seat.

On Tuesday, Congress named former MLA, Sibamoni Bora, as their candidate for the seat. The TMC announced Abdul Salam as the candidate for the by-election.

Also Read:Assam: Congress names former MLA Sibamoni Bora as candidate for Nagaon bypoll

The Nagaon seat had fallen vacant in March this year after the sitting Congress MP, Pradyut Bordoloi resigned from the party and joined the BJP. He later won from the Dispur assembly seat on a BJP ticket in the assembly polls held in April.

“In order to defeat fascist forces like the BJP and others and to ensure that there is no division in anti-fascist and anti-communal votes, Raijor Dal has decided not to field any candidate in Nagaon despite having a base in the constituency,” Raijor Dal president and MLA, Akhil Gogoi, stated on Tuesday.

Filing of nominations for the by-election will start from September 16. Scrutiny of nominations will happen on September 17 and last date of withdrawal of nominations will take place on September 19. Polling for the seat will take place on October 6 and counting of votes happen on October 9.