Activist Akhil Gogoi, jailed over CAA stir, to contest Assam polls from Sibsagar

GUWAHATI: Jailed activist Akhil Gogoi will contest the upcoming elections in Assam from Sibsagar as a candidate of his newly-floated Raijor Dal.

Announcing the list of 17 candidates that the party fielded in the first two phases, Raijor Dal working president Bhasco De Saikia said that Gogoi, the party's president, will contest from the Sibsagar constituency in Upper Assam.

In the first phase, the party will contest in 12 seats but is yet to announce the candidate for one seat, and in the second phase, it has put up candidates in six constituencies.

"We have decided to contest in only 17 seats with the intention of not dividing the votes so that the BJP is defeated and to ensure that there is an anti-CAA government in the state," Saikia said.

In the first phase, besides Sibsagar, the party will contest from Chabua, Moran, Mahmara, Teok, Bokakhat, Rupohihat, Dhing, Tezpur, Bihpuria and Rangapara.

In the second phase, it fielded candidates in Raha, Rangia, Kamalpur, Dalgaon and Jamunamukh.

Gogoi was booked under the stringent UAPA during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in December 2019 and has been in judicial custody since then.

The elections to the 126-member Assam assembly will be held in three phases, beginning on March 27.