Upcoming Assembly Elections: Key Candidates and Voter Demographics in Darrang District

Overview of the Upcoming Elections

Mangaldai, March 31: The electoral contest for the three Assembly segments—Sipajhar, Mangaldai, and Dalgaon—within the Darrang district is gearing up for the elections scheduled on April 9, featuring a total of 14 candidates.

The fate of these candidates will be determined by 717,540 voters across 907 polling stations in the district.

Among the electorate, there are 10,880 new voters, representing 1.5% of the total. Notably, the largest voting demographic, comprising 29% (208,534 voters), falls within the 20-29 age bracket.

Additionally, there are 53 centenarian voters, including one individual who is over 120 years old.

Candidates and Political Dynamics

Among the current MLAs, Paramananda Rajbongshi (BJP) from Sipajhar and Mazibur Rahman (AIUDF) from Dalgaon have secured their party nominations. In contrast, Basanta Das, the sitting MLA for Mangaldai, who switched from Congress to BJP, was denied a ticket due to shifting political dynamics following the seat's dereservation.

In Sipajhar, besides the incumbent MLA, former three-time MLA Binanda Kumar Saikia (Congress), Mun Kumar Deka (SUCI-C), and Harajyoti Buddha (Independent) are also contesting. In the previous elections, Rajbongshi won by a margin of nearly 7,000 votes, with the constituency now having 201,883 voters, including 103,050 males and 98,829 females.

Changes in Mangaldai Constituency

The Mangaldai LAC, which is voting for the first time after its dereservation in 34 years, has six candidates vying for the seat: Nilima Devi (BJP), Rijumoni Talukdar (Congress), Azizur Rahman (AIUDF), Harekrishna Deka (TMC), Ajit Acharya (SUCI-C), and Prabin Kumar Deka (Independent). All candidates are new to the voters in this constituency, which has 200,373 electors.

In the last election, Basanta Das, running on a Congress ticket, won against BJP's Gurujyoti Das by approximately 24,000 votes. However, the recent delimitation has altered both the geographical and demographic landscape.

This shift is reflected in the last Lok Sabha elections, where the BJP garnered over 96,000 votes compared to around 58,000 for Congress.

Dalgaon Constituency Candidates

In Dalgaon, sitting MLA Mazibur Rahman (AIUDF) will face competition from Krishna Saha (BJP), Azizur Rahman (Raijor Dal), and Aynul Hoque (Independent). This election cycle sees Congress not fielding its own candidate but supporting the Raijor Dal candidate as part of a pre-poll alliance. This decision has led to internal dissent, with one aspirant, Aynul Hoque, running as an independent. Dalgaon boasts the highest number of electors in the state, totaling 315,284.