GUWAHATI, March 21 � Altogether, 53 candidates filed nominations in Assam for the first phase of the polls to five Parliamentary constituencies on April 7 for which nominations ended today, election office sources said, reports PTI.
The constituencies going to polls in the first phase were Tezpur, where ten candidates filed nominations, Kaliabor, where 13 candidates did so and eight each in Jorhat and Dibrugarh and 14 in Lakhimpur.
Prominent candidates who filed their papers during the day were two Union Ministers Paban Singh Ghatowar from Dibrugarh and Ranee Narah from Lakhimpur.
Controversial former Congress MP Mani Kumar Subba filed nomination as an Independent from Tezpur, BJP State unit president Sarbananda Sonowal from Lakhimpur, sitting AGP MP from Tezpur Joseph Toppo and former AGP MP Dr Arun Sarmah from Kaliabor.
Candidates whose fate would be decided were Gaurav Gogoi from Kaliabor, former Union Minister BK Handique who is making a bid to retain the Jorhat seat for the seventh consecutive term, former legislator and ULFA leader Jiten Gogoi, contesting as an Independent and Congress MLA from Bihpuria Bhupen Kumar Borah.
