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Cong sure of win in both RS seats

By Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, March 22 � The Congress is confident that both its Rajya Sabha (RS) nominees � Najnin Faruqui and Silvius Condpan � will emerge victorious in the March 26 election to the two Upper House seats of the State.

Meanwhile, the plea of Congress candidate Silvius Condpan to rescrutinise the nomination papers of Opposition candidate Jayanta Baruah was rejected by Returning Officer Gauranga Prasad Das today. Condpan has been informed of the decision on the matter, Das said.

Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) general secretary (Organization) Dr Haren Das said that the �party is in contest� and it has not fielded its candidates to bite the dust.

When pointed to the fact that the party is still short of at least seven votes to get both its candidates elected in the March 26 election, he said that his party would �try to secure the required votes.�

�An election is an election. It has its own properties, several factors are at work and we are hopeful. We have time in hand and we will try to get our candidates through,� said Dr Das.

Congress nominee Najnin Faruqui exuded the confidence that she would come out victorious in the March 26 election. Reasoning, she said that before filing nomination for the RS election, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had told her that the party would be fielding only one candidate. But when the matter of offering the candidature of Silvius Condpan came, she was told that she would be the first preference nominee of the party.

Last night too, the Chief Minister told her that she was the first preference nominee of the party, she claimed.

Asked to explain why Condpan has been fielded by the party despite there being seven votes short of the required number of votes to get him elected, she said that Condpan might have seen some prospect. Or else, he would not have offered his candidature, she said.

When contacted, party�s second preference nominee and former Rajya Sabha MP Silvius Condpan told this newspaper that he saw prospects of a win. The first preference nominee of the party (Faruqui) is sure to win. Hence, discussion in the political circles is now confined to his (Condpan) electoral prospect, he said, adding, the party is working to ensure his victory.

When asked to comment on the deficiency in the numerical strength of the party to get him elected, he said, �Party has not informed me of any dearth of votes.�

Returning Officer Das, who is also the Secretary of the State Assembly, told this newspaper that his decision on the date of scrutiny of the nomination papers stood to be the final decision on the matter of Jayanta Baruah�s nomination papers.

It needs mention here that Condpan had on Friday last made a plea with the Returning Officer to rescrutinise the nomination papers of Baruah on the ground that the latter had not informed of his being convicted by a trial court and an appeal on this court verdict has been lying with a court. Moreover, Condpan also alleged that Baruah�s statement on his age was not correct.

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