Nalbari set for high-stakes BJP vs Congress contest; defectors face off

Nalbari, March 22: The election will be very interesting in the Nalbari constituency this time as the ruling BJP and the main Opposition Congress have already announced their candidates for three Assembly constituencies in the district.

The BJP has announced the nomination of minister Jayanta Malla Baruah for the Nalbari LAC.

In this constituency, the opposition Congress has already issued its ticket to former MLA Ashok Sarma.

Earlier, Sarma was elected from Nalbari LAC on a BJP ticket in 2016 Assembly polls. However, he was unable to get ticket from the BJP in the 2021 Assembly poll.

And instead, Jayanta Malla Baruah who joined the party from Congress was given the party ticket in 2021 poll.

Earlier in the Assembly poll of 2011, Jayanta Malla Baruah was elected from Nalbari LAC on a Congress ticket but later left the party. In Nalbari, Ashok Sarma, who led the BJP from the front, won the ticket from the constituency in 2016.

He defeated the then Congress candidate Pradyut Kumar Bhuyan. However, in the 2021 elections, the BJP deprived the then MLA Ashok Sarma of the ticket despite being a sitting MLA of the constituency and gave the ticket to Jayant Malla Baruah.

Meanwhile, former MLA Ashok Sarma was increasingly neglected within the party and he later left the BJP and joined the Congress.

Now, he is the candidate of the Congress party for the Nalbari seat. This time, the main battle is likely to be between a former Congressman and a former BJP member in the constituency.

It remains to be seen whether former Congressman Jayant Malla Baruah continues the BJP’s victory or whether former BJP man Ashok Sarma saves the Congress.

The total number of voters in the Nalbari Assembly constituency is 2,00,278.

The Congress and BJP have already announced their candidates in the former Dharampur and present Tihu constituency in the district.

The BJP has nominated incumbent minister Chandra Mohan Patowary while the Congress has nominated Ratul Patowary, who was defeated in the last Assembly elections.

Both the leaders have been trying to attract voters in the constituency. This time, the scenario has changed due to the inclusion of Dharampur area in the Tihu LAC. The total number of voters in the constituency is 2,04,441.

There is a possibility of a similar battle in the Barkhetri constituency of the district as in the last elections.

This time, about 52,000 Hindu votes have been added from Nalbari and Dharampur constituencies while a large number of Muslim votes have been moved to Tihu constituency.

Therefore, the battle of the constituency will be interesting. In the last Assembly elections, the main battle was between Congress candidate Diganta Barman and former BJP MLA Narayan Deka.

Congress nominee Diganta Barman, son of former Chief Minister Dr Bhumidhar Barman, was elected as an MLA for the first time.

This time, the Congress has already given the ticket to Diganta Barman and the BJP has given the ticket to former MLA Narayan Deka.

This time too, the main battle is likely to be between the BJP and the Congress in the constituency. The total number of voters in the constituency is 2,19,672.