Tough fight between Congress and BJP candidates in Sootea

A tough contest will be witnessed between sitting AGP MLA and now BJP nominee Padma Hazarika and Congress contestant Praneswar Basumatary in Sootea Assembly constituency of Assam on April 4, where election campaign will come to a close this evening.
While the BJP candidate is banking in on the AGP-BJP alliance, Congress is wooing voters mostly on issues of developmental works and alleged corruption during Hazarika's previous terms as AGP MLA.
Hazarika is facing a tough challenge this time with Congress presenting an assessment of the former's performance during his long stint in the constituency.
The seat was dominated by Hazarika, who recently joined the saffron party, for three terms. He first won in 1996, followed by a defeat in 2001 by his current rival Basumatary before he regained Sootea in 2006 and 2011 as an AGP nominee.

A section of voters of the Assembly segment, however, claimed that though Hazarika represented Sootea for three terms, the legislator "could not do any noticeable developmental work despite crores of rupees being allotted for the purpose in the constituency".
On the contrary, some of them felt, Basumatary during a single term as MLA could implement many developmental projects in the constituency, including road communication and electrification in many remote rural areas under the Rajib Gandhi Rural electrification project.

Moreover, the influential tribal students body 'All Bodo
Students Union' has a strong hold among Bodo voters here, playing a vital role following the Bodo party of United Peoples Party-Congress alliance, boosting up prospects of Basumatary, who belongs to the ethnic Bodo community.

There is also open dissatisfaction among a section of BJP workers against the alleged "non implementation of developmental works in the constituency during the 15 years of Hazarika's term due to rampant corruption".
Further socially conscious voters and senior citizens of the constituency have also made public appeals to the electors to give their mandate to the Congress candidate in the interest of development.
The anti-Hazarika stand taken by Independent candidate Arun Nath may also affect the electoral prospect of BJP in the constituency, political circles claim.
Nath was one of the AGP workers who had sought a ticket from the BJP after its alliance with the saffron party but he was denied the ticket. He is now a major constraint against the BJP candidate and is banking on the votes from a sizable section of voters from the AGP-BJP camp.

All these factors have made the Congress camp happy with slogans like 'We will win by a big margin' reflecting the jubilant mood among Congress workers.
Yet political observers are of the opinion that Hazarika "will leave no stone unturned to overcome all these obstacles".
On the winability of Basumatary, his election adviser, Sayteswar Mech said majority of the 1,75,000 voters in Sootea are of Assamese and Nepali communities which will this time favour the Congress candidate.
Bodo, Adivasi and Hindi speaking voters would also play a crucial role in Basumatary's victory as he has a strong connection with these people, Mech added.

The polls will also see Independent Jyoti Subba, wife of former Tezpur MP and lottery baron Mani Kumar Subba and also the richest contestant in the state with assets worth Rs 288 crore, and CPI-M's Khemraj Chetry influencing a section of voters for the seat.