Staff Reporter
Guwahati: Two BJP candidates and senior leaders, Mission Ranjan Das and Rameswar Teli, filed their nomination papers for the upcoming Rajya Sabha bye-elections from the state on Wednesday. Today was the last date for filing nomination papers.
On Wednesday afternoon, the two candidates filed their nomination papers in the presence of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, AGP president and cabinet minister Atul Bora, AGP working president and cabinet minister Keshab Mahanta, UPPL representative and cabinet minister UG Brahma, state BJP president and MLA Bhabesh Kalita, and other party members, ministers, and MLAs.
Both BJP leaders filed their nomination papers before the returning officer for the RS polls, Rajib Bhattacharyya, who is the additional secretary of the Assam Legislative Assembly. On the last day of filing nomination papers today, no other candidates filed nomination papers, ensuring their win in the bye-poll. As per the schedule of the ECI issued earlier, scrutiny of the nomination papers of both candidates will be held on Thursday (August 22), the date for scrutiny of nominations. As per the ECI schedule, the last date for withdrawal of candidature is August 26. The date of polling is fixed for September 3, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The counting of votes will be done on September 3 at 5 p.m. The date before which the election will be completed is given as September 6.
As only two candidates filed nominations, no voting will take place on September 3.
After filing his nomination papers, Mission Ranjan Das and Rameswar Teli expressed their gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, national BJP president JP Nadda, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal, state BJP president Bhabesh Kalita, and the national election committee of the BJP for giving them the party ticket for the RS bye-poll from the state of Assam.
Speaking to the media, Mission Ranjan Das said, “In 1991, I was elected for the first time to the state Assembly. At that time, there were only 10 MLAs from the BJP in the Assembly. I was the four-time MLA from Karimganj North. I thank the state and national BJP for giving me the honour of making me a candidate for the Rajya Sabha bye-election.”
Rameswar Teli, an Union minister in the last Modi government, said, “I joined the BJP in 1988 when I was only 25 years old. In 2001, I was elected as an MLA for the first time in the 2001 Assembly Election. I did not have a political background. I never imagined I would become an MLA. The BJP has again given me the party ticket for the Rajya Sabha election, and I thank everyone for this honour.”
Also Read: Rajya Sabha Bye-Poll: BJP Fields Mission Ranjan Das and Rameswar Teli from Assam (sentinelassam.com)
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