Guwahati, Mar 2 (PTI) Union Minister and BJP's Rajya Sabha member Sarbananda Sonowal will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from Dibrugarh seat in Assam, replacing incumbent party MP and Union Minister Rameswar Teli.
The BJP on Saturday announced the first list of 195 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections.
The Lok Sabha polls will be the first election in Assam after the Election Commission of India (ECI) carried out the delimitation exercise last year.
This was strongly criticised by the opposition parties, alleging that it was done to help the ruling BJP only.
However, the press release that the BJP issued carried the constituency names of the pre-delimitation period, including the reservation status.
Apart from Sonowal, the BJP named 10 other candidates, including one woman, to contest the general elections from Assam which has 14 Lok Sabha seats.
The remaining three seats are left for BJP allies -- Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People's Party Liberal (UPPL).
Of the 11 BJP nominees, only four are existing Lok Sabha members who have got tickets this time, while two others from Rajya Sabha will try their luck. The remaining five, including a state minister and an MLA, will contest the general elections for the first time.
In the current Lok Sabha, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has nine MPs from the state, while its allies AGP and UPPL have no representation.
The Congress holds three seats and the AIUDF one, while another is an Independent member.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, in a post on X, said, "Many congratulations to the @BJP4India Lok Sabha candidates from Assam and rest of the country. With the blessings of Hon'ble Prime Minster (sic) Shri @narendramodi Ji, the people will give us a historic mandate in the upcoming elections."
Sonowal is currently a cabinet minister of the central government and is considered to be trusted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
During the 2014-2016 period, he was a minister of state in the first Narendra Modi government and held various portfolios, before becoming the first chief minister of Assam from the party in 2016.
"I am grateful to PM Modi for trusting me. Under his guidance, we all will win. I am sure, the BJP will form the government for the third term with a massive mandate with people's love and support," Sonowal, the minister of ports, shipping and waterways, said.
A former president of the influential All Assam Students' Union (AASU), Sonowal was an MLA (2001) and Lok Sabha MP (2004) of the AGP before switching sides to BJP in 2011.
He is a three-time Assam MLA, two-time Lok Sabha member and one-time Rajya Sabha member.
Two-time MP Rameswar Teli, who has been denied a BJP ticket this time, was first elected to Lok Sabha in 2014.
He was a two-time MLA also.
Teli now serves as the minister of state for petroleum and natural gas, and for labour and employment.
Another Rajya Sabha Member Kamakhya Prasad Tasa was also nominated from Kaliabor, which has become Kaziranga after the delimitation.
The seat is presently represented by Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi.
A prominent tea-tribe member of the BJP, Tasa was a Lok Sabha member from 2014 to 2019.
In the high-profile Guwahati constituency, the BJP brought a new face Bijuli Kalita Medhi, replacing incumbent party MP Queen Oja.
Medhi, currently the vice president of Assam BJP, was the deputy mayor of Guwahati Municipal Corporation and former president of the women's wing of the party in the state.
She joined the BJP in 2013, while her husband Tiken Medhi is an old-timer in the party.
"The BJP is a cadre-based party and I am also a cadre. I will move ahead under the guidance of our CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and state president Bhabesh Kalita during this election," Medhi said.
The biggest surprise was the nomination of Suresh Bora from Nagaon seat, which is currently represented by senior Congress leader Pradyut Bordoloi.
Bora was in Congress and joined the BJP around two months back.
He was the Nagaon district president of Congress and had unsuccessfully contested assembly polls thrice from Barhampur.
"I earnestly appeal to the people to elect the BJP candidate for the development of Nagaon and the future of children of this place. I thank (JP) Nadda and PM Modi for trusting me," Bora said.
Assam Excise, Transport and Fisheries Minister Parimal Suklabaidya will contest for the first time in Lok Sabha elections from Silchar seat. He replaced saffron party MP Rajdeep Roy.
Post delimitation, the Silchar constituency has been made reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates from the general category.
"I am a simple worker of the party and thankful to the leadership for nominating me for Silchar seat. I will try to win it and serve the party as well as the country," Suklabaidya said.
Currently an MLA from Dholai, Suklabaidya carries a clean image and is a party old-timer from the Barak valley.
The BJP also named former Assam minister and current MLA Ranjit Dutta from the Sonitpur seat.
The erstwhile Tezpur constituency is held by Assam CM's close aide and sitting MP Pallab Lochan Das. Dutta will contest in the general elections for the first time.
Another new face named by the BJP is Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council's Executive Member Amarsing Tisso for Diphu (ST), which is represented by the party's Horen Sing Bey. The seat is presently known as Autonomous District (ST).
Besides, the BJP renominated MPs Dilip Saikia from Darrang (previously Mangaldoi), Topon Kumar Gogoi from Jorhat and Pradan Baruah from Lakhimpur.
It also named incumbent MP Kripanath Mallah from the Karimganj constituency, which has become a general category seat from an SC one after the delimitation exercise.
"I thank CM Sarma and state president Kalita for supporting me. We will definitely win the elections as people love both state and central governments for their developmental works," he added.
BJP's first LS candidate list for Assam Sonowal replaces Rameswar Teli in Dibrugarh
(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)