Campaign ends in 5 LS seats of NE voting in phase III

Guwahati, April 21 (IANS) Campaigning came to an end on Sunday for the remaining four Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam and one of Tripura's two parliamentary seats which are going to polls as part of the third phase on Tuesday.

While Assam's Guwahati, Kokrajhar, Dhubri and Barpeta Lok Sabha constituencies were slated to go to polls on April 23, the election to East Tripura constituency was shifted from April 18 to 23 by the Election Commission due to law and order problems.

Polling to Assam's other 10 constituencies was held in the first two phases - April 11 and 18, while Tripura West saw voting in the first phase.

In Assam's last phase, a total of 7,477,062 voters including 3,661,570 women and 157 of the third gender will seal the fate of 54 candidates in four constituencies, election officials said.

While there are 17 candidates in Guwahati, 15 are in fray in Dhubri, 13 in Barpeta and nine candidates in Kokrajhar.

For the East Tripura Lok Sabha seat, there are ten candidates in the fray but prominent among them includes CPI-M's Jitendra Choudhury, who had won the seat in 2014, Maharaj Kumari Pragya Debburman, the daughter of late Tripura king Kirit Bikram Kishore Debburman, of the Congress and Rebati Tripura of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

In Guwahati, while ruling BJP has fielded former city Mayor, Queen Oja, Congress has pitted senior party leader Bobeeta Sharma in the prestigious seat. Among the others, there is Supreme Court advocate Upamanyu Hazarika. Very vocal against the BJP-led state government over the issue of infiltration from Bangladesh, he had made the illegal infiltration's threat to the indigenous people of Assam his main poll plank.

In Kokrajhar, prominent candidates are Assam's Social Welfare Minister Pramila Rani Brahma, Congress' Sabda Ram Rabha and sitting Lok Sabha MP and Independent candidate, Naba Kumar Sarania. Prominent Bodo nationalist leader Urkhao Gwra Brahma of the United Peoples' Party-Liberal is also in the fray and is seen as a strong contender.

The Barpeta constituency has former Rajya Sabha MP, Kumar Deepak Das of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), Congress legislator Abdul Khaleque and Rafiqul Islam of the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF). Das' candidature is supported by the BJP as AGP and BJP is going to polls as part of an alliance.

In Dhubri, the top candidates are sitting MP and All India United Democratic Front chief Badruddin Ajmal, Abu Taher Bepari of the Congress and Zabed Islam of the AGP.