NAMRUP, March 28 - With the assembly polls drawing near, the election campaign for the 120-Naharkatiya Legislative Assembly has reached its peak. All the party as well as the Independent candidates are leaving no stone unturned to woo the voters. The Naharkatiya segment has 1,17,547 voters, out of which nearly 30,000 are tea tribe voters from 22 tea gardens of the constituency.
The Indian National Congress has again nominated four-time winner and sitting MLA Pranati Phukan as its candidate for the seat. Pranati Phukan is contesting for the fifth consecutive time from here. In the last four Assembly elections from 1996 to 2011, Pranati Phukan wrested the seat by defeating her nearest rivals by huge margin of votes. In 2011, she won the seat by defeating her nearest rival, AGP candidate Noren Sonowal by a margin of 14,397 votes.
This time around, although six candidates are in the fray, the main contest will most likely be between the Congress candidate Pranati Phukan and the AGP candidate Noren Sonowal. In the last Parliamentary elections, the BJP got good support from the voters of the LAC. This time also AGP-BJP supporters are claiming that their candidate Noren Sonowal will surely win the seat by a substantial margin. The poll aspirants of both the AGP and the BJP too have launched poll activities on a massive scale.
