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Guwahati: Voting is currently underway for the four Assembly constituencies in Assam. Polling started at 7 a.m. in all the polling stations in the four constituencies -- Jania, Sonari, Ratabari and Rangapara.
There are 20 candidates in the fray in all the four constituencies this time and a total of close to seven lakh voters are to cast their votes.
The bypolls was necessitated after three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Legislators -- Pallab Lochan Das (Rangapara), Topan Kumar Gogoi (Sonari) and Kripanath Mallah (Ratabari) were elected to the Lok Sabha. Das and Gogoi were Ministers in the Assam government and Mallah was the Deputy speaker of the Assam Legislative Assembly
Similarly, Congress MLA from Jania, Abdul Khaleque, was also elected to Lok Sabha from Barpeta Lok Sabha constituency necessitating the bypolls.
In Rangapara, five candidates are in the fray with the contest likely to be direct between Rajen Bortakur of BJP and Kartik Kurmi of Congress while the other candidates are Royal Soreng of CPI(M), Sanjit Rajbangshi of SUCI (Communist) and Arup Kumar Chowdhury of the Bharatiya Gana Parishad.
In Sonari, there will be a direct contest between the two candidates in fray - BJP's Nabanita Handique and Sushil Kumar Suri of Congress.
In Ratabari there are four candidates but the fight is likely to be straight between Bijoy Malakar of BJP and Keshab Prasad Rajak of Congress, while Birendra Ravidas (SUCI-Communist) and Parikhit Roy (Independent) are also in the fray.
Jania has the highest of nine candidates in the poll arena with the contest likely to be triangular among actor-politician Towfiqur Rahman (BJP), Samsul Hoque (INC) and Rafiqul Islam (AIUDF). The others are Chand Mahmud (NPP), Faruk Khan (AAP), Rustom Ali (CPI-M), Abdul Jalil Talukdar (Ind), Rafikul Islam (Democratic Party of India) and Subhash Sutradhar (Ind).
Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Finance and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma along with BJP Assam unit President Ranjeet Dass, former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, Assam Congress president Ripun Bora, party MP Gaurav Gogoi and AIUDF Chief Badruddin Ajmal had campaigned for their party candidates.
Assam Government has declared October 21 as Public Holiday under the Negotiable Instruments (NI) Act in the four constituencies to facilitate voting.
Results of the by-election will be announced on Thursday, the election office said.
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