PTI
GUWAHATI, APRIL 9
The high-voltage campaign ended today in Assam with the remaining 61 of 126 Assembly constituencies going to polls in the second and final phase on April 11.
Political parties went all-out to woo the 1,04,35,271 electorate, including 53,91,204 males, 50,44,051 females and 22 others, who will decide the fate of 525 candidates - 477 males and 48 females - in the 61 constituencies spread across Lower and Central Assam.
The campaign was characterised by a no-holds barred tirade of allegations and counter allegations with Congress going all-out to retain power for the fourth successive term while the BJP-AGP-BPF alliance attempting to wrest it from the ruling party and AIUDF claiming to be the ‘king-maker’ in the next government formation.
Campaigning in several constituencies of second phase, which has a predominant minority population, focussed primarily on the issue of infiltration.While BJP pledged to resolve the issue by completely sealing the Indo-Bangla border, Congress contended that there was no Bangladeshi in Assam and it was the Tarun-Gogoi led government that took the initiative to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC) to resolve the issue.
The campaigning reached its peak on the last day with on one hand Union Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP president Amit Shah and the alliance’s Chief Ministerial candidate Sarbananda Sonowal wooing the electorate and on the other Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi along with senior Congress leaders making last-minute appeals to the voters.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who led the BJP-AGP-BPF alliance campaign in both the phases, addressed four marathon election rallies and offered prayers at Kamakhya Temple.
For Congress, party president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, state chief Anjan Dutta along with former UPA ministers Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jairam Ramesh, Salman Khurshid, Sachin Pilot among others who campaigned for its candidates.
Shah reiterates BJP’s commitment to seal India-Bangladesh border
BJP national president Amit Shah on Saturday reiterated the BJP’s commitment towards sealing the porous India-Bangladesh border while asserting terming protection of identity and culture of the indigenous people will also be the priority of of his party.
“The BJP is committed to seal the India-Bangladesh border. We are going to seal the border as soon as possible. The execution of the land swap deal between the two countries has already eased the process,” he said at a press conference here.
On deportation of the illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators living in Assam, he said: “Our priority is to seal the border so that we can stop the infiltration.”
“The NDA government at the centre along with the state government will also take up steps for detection of these Bangladeshis,” he said adding that after this, the matter would be taken up with the Bangladesh government.
Shah accused the Congress government in Assam with not being bothered about the issue of infiltration as the infiltrators are its “vote banks”. “Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had once said that there is not a single Bangladeshi in Assam. The statement of the chief minister of a state indicates the government’s attitude towards the issue,” he said.
He also said that the government will probe into the alleged Saradha ponzi scam and that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) might also be engaged for this purpose.
The BJP president also said that if his party wins in Assam, there will be probe into the allegations of corruption during the 15 years of Congress rule in the state.
