Bypoll campaigning draws to a close

SILCHAR: Campaigning for by-elections to three assembly constituencies — Silchar, Lakhipur and Jamunamukh— came to an end at 4pm on Thursday, sources at the election office said. Voting will take place on September 13.
The sources said a total of 25 candidates are in the fray, including 12 in Silchar, five in Lakhipur and eight in Jamunamukh.
Political observers said Silchar in Cachar district was set to witness a straight contest between Arun Dutta Majumdar of Congress and Dilip Kumar Paul of BJP.Apart from them, other major candidates in the fray include AIUDF’s Noor Ahmed Barbhuiya and CPM’s Dulal Mitra. Lakhipur, a tea worker-dominated segment in Cachar district, is set to witness a tri-cornered contest among Rajdeep Goala of Congress, Mukesh Pande of AIUDF and Sanjay Kumar Thakur of BJP.
In Nagaon district’s Jamunamukh constituency, AIUDF has fielded Abdur Rahim Ajmal, son of AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal.
Congress has put up Bashiruddin Laskar, while BJP has nominated Bilal Uddin for the bypolls. Notably, AGP has decided to abstain from the polls.
In Silchar, a total of 2,05,617 voters, including 1,01,098 women, are expected to exercise their democratic right. In Lakhipur, the total number of voters is 1,37,650, including 65,631 women. In Jamunamukh, a total of 5,09,689 voters, including 2,44,543 women, are likely to exercise their democratic right.
The votes will be counted on September 16. The by-election has been necessitated following the election of Silchar MLA Sushmita Dev and Jamunamukh MLA Mohammad Sirajuddin Ajmal to the Lok Sabha. Lakhipur MLA Dinesh Prasad Goala passed away.
Over the last week, CM Tarun Gogoi, APCC president Bhubaneswar Kalita, BJP state president Siddhartha Bhattacharjee, BJP leader and Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal, AIUDF president Badruddin Ajmal and a number of other leaders campaigned across the three segments.