DIBRUGARH, March 21 � Union DoNER Minister and Indian National Congress (INC) party�s five time winner Paban Singh Ghatowar and four other candidates from different political parties today filed their nomination papers for Dibrugarh parliamentary constituency.
Three candidates had submitted nomination papers yesterday. Altogether eight candidates have sought to contest for the general election from the eastern most parliamentary constituency of the State here.
The ruling Congress party demonstrated massive public support by taking out a huge procession from Rajiv Bhawan to the office of the Deputy Commissioner. Thousands of Congress workers including Revenue Minister Prithibi Majhi, Handloom & Textiles, Sericulture and Cultural Affairs Minister Pranati Phukan, Parliamentary Secretaries - Etuwa
Munda, Raju Sahu, Rajendra Prasad, Jibontara Ghatowar, Tinsukia Development Authority chairman Pronab Baruah, Moran Council chairman Birinchi Neog, and MLAs
Sushanta Borgohain and Sarat Saikia were present either in the huge procession or during the submission of the nomination papers.
The other candidates who filed nomination papers included Asom Gana Parishad�s (AGP) former Tingkhong MLA Anup Phukan, Subhash Sen from CPI (ML), Nabajyoti Kalita from Trinamool Congress and Tapan Sutbanshi from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Cheniram Moran from All India Forward Block (AIFB) and Ram Narayan Singh, a candidate from Shiv Sena filed nomination papers yesterday.
Anup Phukan was escorted by hundreds of AGP supporters during filing of his nomination papers. The AGP party leaders also condemned the district administration here for being lenient towards the ruling Congress by allowing entry to more than five members of the Congress including NSUI members with party flags within the DC office campus
while it restricted entry of the AGP candidate�s polling agent and AGP district president.
After filing his nomination papers, Ghatowar said that last Assembly elections and panchayat elections is a testimony that the support for the Indian National Congress has increased. �I am confident that my winning margin will be about 2 to 3 times more than last general elections,� he said. Ghatowar had won by 35,143 votes in the last parliamentary elections. BJP president Sarbananda Sonowal, who contested then as an AGP candidate was the runner-up.
