BJP hopeful of parivartan in Assam

The party has also promised to resolve the infiltration issue by completely sealing off the Indo-Bangla border

With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) confident that it will get 25-35 seats in the first phase of the Assam Assembly elections on April 4, the stage is set for the second and final phase of the election on Monday when 61 of the 126 constituencies will go to the polls.

In Assam, this phase of elections is crucial for both the All Assam United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and the incumbent Congress, which is fighting to get a fourth term. Infiltration is a big issue in these areas, which have a predominant minority population in several of the constituencies spread across Lower and Central Assam.

The BJP has promised to resolve the infiltration issue by completely sealing off the Indo-Bangla border, while the Congress' contention is that there were no Bangladeshis in Assam and it was the Tarun Gogoi-led government that took the initiative to update the National Register of Citizens to resolve the issue. The BJP's campaign was also marked by an appeal to the electorate to vote for parivartan (change) to bring development, while the Congress highlighted its achievements such as restoring peace during its 15-year rule.

For the Congress, it was party President Sonia Gandhi, Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, state unit chief Anjan Dutta along with former United Progressive Alliance ministers Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jairam Ramesh and Salman Khurshid, among others, who campaigned for its candidates.

An estimated 10,435,271 people are eligible to exercise their franchise in the phase to decide the fate of 525 candidates - 477 males and 48 females.

Among the prominent candidates in the fray are Cabinet ministers Rakibul Hussain, Chandan Sarkar and Nazrul Islam for the Congress; two-time chief minister Prafulla Mahanta of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP); AIUDF chief and Dhubri MP Badruddin Ajmal; and former Congress minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who revolted against the chief minister and joined the BJP last year.

The Congress is contesting in 57 seats; the AIUDF, the major opposition party in the outgoing Assembly, in 47; the BJP in 35; while its allies the Bodo Peoples' Front in 10, and AGP in 19. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) is contesting in nine and the Communist Party of India in five.

Thirty-one Assembly constituencies in West Bengal - spread over three districts of Pashchim Medinipur, Bankura and Burdwan - will also see polling on Monday. In West Bengal, 163 candidates, including 21 women, have been wooing the state's seven million voters.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) party chief Mamata Banerjee has been campaigning extensively. Besides the Saradha chitfund scam, opposition parties have been targeting the TMC government on the recent Narada sting operation where party leaders were allegedly seen accepting bribe.