BJP's Queen Oja votes in Guwahati, confident of win

Queen Oja, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate for the Guwahati Lok Sabha constituency, cast her vote here on Tuesday in Assam's third phase polls, saying she was confident of winning the seat.

Oja queued along with other voters at the polling booth in the Lachit Nagar LP School and was the first one to cast her ballot.

"I am glad to cast my vote. I have been voting here since several years," she told the media.

"The people's response that I have received during the campaigning is tremendous. People have seen the development ushered in by the BJP government at the Centre and in Assam and hence they will vote for me. I am born and brought up in Guwahati and associated with the public life for the last 35 years," Oja, who had also served as the mayor of Guwahati for a brief period during early 90s, said.

Oja is pitted against Congress' Bobeeta Sharma, a senior party leader.

Although there are 17 candidates in the fray for Guwahati, Supreme Court advocate Upamanyu Hazarika is one of the strong candidates contesting the polls for the seat this time.

Hazarika, who is an Independent, has been very vocal against the BJP-led government in Assam over the issue of infiltration from Bangladesh. He is using the issue as his main poll plank.

--IANS

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