Four candidates in fray in Assam RS polls

Four candidates who filed their nomination papers for elections to the three Rajya Sabha seats are in the fray as last day of withdrawal ended today.

The candidates in the fray are sitting Congress and Bodo Peoples' Front (BPF) MPs Bhubaneswar Kalita and Biswajit Daimary respectively along with the other Congress nominee Sanjay Singh and combined opposition candidate Haidar Hussain, Assam assembly Principal Secretary G P Das said.

Daimary had taken the withdrawal forms yesterday after the Congress, an ally of the BPF in the state assembly, projected Kalita and Singh as the party's first two choice of candidates.

Daimary, however, did not withdraw his nomination as he was given an "assurance by the Congress that they would go all out to ensure his election to the Rajya Sabha", the sitting BPF MP claimed.

The other Congress candidate is Sanjay Singh, a sitting Lok Sabha MP from Sultanpur whose entry into the fray sparked off protests by political parties and other organisations including the AASU, KMSS and AJYCP.

In a rare show of unity, three opposition parties of the state assembly- BJP, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) came together to nominate noted journalist Haidar Hussain as the fourth candidate as a protest against Singh's nomination.

Elections for the three seats would be held on February seven and the entire election process shall be completed by February 10.

The current term of sitting members Kalita, Daimary and AGP's Birendra Prasad Baishya ends on April nine.

There are seven Rajya Sabha Seats from Assam with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also representing the state in the Upper House.