Guwahati Oct 18 PTI The CPIM on Monday said it will support Congress candidates in four assembly seats in Assam and CPI nominee in one for the October 30 by-elections in the state The Left party will back the CPI candidate in Thowra constituency and the Congress nominees in Mariani Bhabanipur Tamulpur and Gossaiagon seats The BJP-led coalition government has betrayed the people of Assam after the last assembly elections The government has not made the minimum effort to help them when they are facing problems like price rise and unemployment the CPIM said in a statement It also urged the people not to vote in favour of the ruling BJP and its allies Asom Gana Parishad AGP and United Peoples Party Liberal UPPL The CPIM was part of a grand alliance led by the Congress in the last assembly polls held earlier this year By-elections to Gossaigaon and Tamulpur were necessitated due to death of the sitting MLAs while the legislators of Bhabanipur Mariani and Thowra resigned from their seats and joined the ruling BJP Thowra and Mariani seats were bagged by the Congress in the March-April assembly polls while the UPPL won Gossaigaon constituency The BPF and the AIUDF emerged victorious in Tamulpur and Bhabanipur respectively The Congress which was in power for 15 years in Assam since 2001 had formed the grand alliance with the AIUDF BPF CPIM CPI CPIML Anchalik Gana Morcha AGM RJD Adivasi National Party ANP and Jimochayan Deori Peoples Party JPP to fight against the BJP-led NDA in the assembly election Votes for the by-elections will be counted on November 2 In the 126-member Assam assembly the BJPs strength at present is 59 The ruling allies -- the AGP and the UPPL - have nine and five MLAs respectively while the Congress has 27 legislators the AIUDF has 15 members the BPF has three and the CPIM has one There is one Independent member Meanwhile the Election Commission has prohibited conduct of any exit poll between 6 am and 730 pm on October 30 for the by-elections It also said Displaying any election matter including results of any opinion poll or any other poll survey in any electronic media would be prohibited during the period of 48 hours ending with the hours fixed for conclusion of the elections Assam Chief Electoral Officer Nitin Khade urged all to scrupulously adhere to the EC directives related to exit and opinion polls PTI SSG ESB BDC BDC

Guwahati Sep 30 PTI The Congress is likely to leave at least one assembly seat out of six where by-polls will take place in coming months to the Assam Jatiya Parishad AJP sources in the opposition party said on Thursday A high-level meeting between Assam Pradesh Congress Committee APCC chief Bhupen Borah and AJP president Lurinjyoti Gogoi and General Secretary Jagadish Bhuyan took place earlier in the day sources said The Congress is willing to leave one seat to the AJP as per their request to put up common candidates in the by-polls in Assam Though not final we are ready to leave the Majuli seat to them a senior APCC leader told PTI on condition of anonymitySix assembly seats are now lying vacant due to deaths and resignations of MLAs Of those seats By-elections will take place in five - Thowra Mariani Bhabanipur Tamulpur and Gossaigaon - on October 30The Majuli seat is also vacant but a poll will not be held there on that day as its representative Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal resigned from the assembly hours after the poll schedule was announced by the Election Commission Thowra and Mariani seats were bagged by the Congress during the assembly polls held earlier this year but the MLAs resigned and joined the ruling BJP The APCC is ready to vacate Mariani if Lurinjyoti Gogoi himself contests from there If he is not willing we will give Majuli to them Both the parties have mutually agreed on this the Congress leader said When contacted the state Congress president did not deny that there could be a seat-sharing arrangement with the AJP but said no decision has been taken regarding alliance as a whole for the by-polls We have three committees which take the final decision All the three committees will sit separately tomorrow and finalise our strategies Borah told PTI Asked if any understanding with MLA Akhil Gogoi-led Raijor Dal RD is possible Borah said the Congress is ready to talk to the party provided it withdraws its candidate from the Thowra seat On Wednesday the RD announced that it will contest two seats -- Thowra and Mariani -- and named the candidate for Thowra The nominee for Mariani will be decided within this week Gogoi had said We cannot talk about poll understanding when the RD has already announced its candidate It cannot dictate terms to us Borah said Akhil Gogoi in the press conference on Wednesday appealed to the Congress with whom the RD had tried to field common candidates for the by-polls to defeat the ruling NDA to support their candidates If they Congress support us we will campaign for them in the remaining four seats he had said Meanwhile the CPI which was a part of the Congress-led Grand Alliance during the assembly elections announced to field Krishna Gogoi from Thowra The Congress which was in power for 15 years in Assam since 2001 had formed the Grand Alliance with the AIUDF BPF CPIM CPI CPIML Anchalik Gana Morcha AGM RJD Adivasi National Party ANP and the Jimochayan Deori Peoples Party JPP to fight the BJP-led NDA in the assembly election this year In the 126-member Assam Assembly the BJPs strength at present is 59 Of its allies the AGP has nine and the UPPL has five MLAs The Congress strength is 27 while AIUDF has 15 members BPF has three and the CPIM has one legislator There is one Independent MLA PTI TR NN NN

Guwahati Sep 20 PTI The Congress is gearing up to fight the assembly by-polls in Assam likely to take place by the end of this year alone without forming any alliance state party president Bhupen Kumar Borah said on Monday The state Congress has decided to field its own candidates in the seats where by-polls will be held as it wants to regain the lost ground in the constituencies that were offered to alliance partners before the assembly elections held earlier this year he saidFive assembly seats are now lying vacant due to deaths and resignations of MLAs while another legislator who became a Union minister is yet to quit his membership in the House Due to the alliance our organisation became weak in many areas like the Bodoland Territorial Region BTR Our cadres got demotivated in those constituencies where we did not contest We need to strengthen those seats Borah said in an interaction with senior journalists of the state media In order to enthuse the ground workers and strengthen the party organisation keeping in mind the Lok Sabha polls in 2024 and the assembly elections in 2026 the Congress will fight the by-polls alone he added The Congress which was in power for 15 years in Assam since 2001 had formed a Grand Alliance with the AIUDF BPF CPIM CPI CPIML Anchalik Gana Morcha AGM RJD Adivasi National Party ANP and the Jimochayan Deori Peoples Party JPP to fight against the BJP-led NDA in the assembly election this year The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee last month decided to break the alliance with the AIUDF and the Bodoland Peoples Front BPF while the CPIM has said it only had a seat-sharing arrangement with the Congress but was not a part of an alliance It will send a strong message to our workers that we are serious about rebuilding the party We had some discussions with regional opposition parties like the Raijor Dal RD and the Assam Jatiya Parishad AJP But the Raijor Dal has already announced the candidate for one seat Borah said He however said the proposal of AJP president Lurinjyoti Gogoi to give a common candidate in one seat is still under consideration We have sought applications from interested Congress leaders in the six constituencies by September 27 We will make a final decision only after that If we insist on united opposition we cannot enthuse our workers Borah said In the 126-member Assam Assembly byelections will take place in six seats -- Mariani Thowra Bhabanipur Tamulpur Gossaigaon and MajuliTwo MLAs of the Congress and one of the All India United Democratic Front AIUDF have joined the BJP and resigned from the assembly One legislator each of the United Peoples Party Liberal UPPL and the Bodoland Peoples Front BPF diedThe sixth seat is likely to fall vacant when former chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal resigns as he has joined the Union Cabinet as a minister At present the BJP has 60 MLAs but effectively 59 as Sonowal is yet to resign from the Assembly The ruling alliance partners -- the AGP has nine and UPPL has five MLAs The Congress strength is 27 while the BPF has three and the CPIM has one MLA There is one Independent MLA also PTI TR DG NN NN