BJP announces candidates for NCHAC polls

Guwahati, May 21 (UNI) The BJP today announced its candidates for the June 12 North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council(NCHAC) elections.

State party president Ramen Deka, in a press meet here, informed that the party would contest ten of the total 28 seats.

''Our alliance partner Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC) will field its candidates in the remaining 18 seats,'' he added.

Only one of the total ten BJP candidates is a woman.

The BJP-ASDC combined manifesto would be released on May 27. The Congress, in power in the present NCHAC, is yet to announce its nominees.

The BJP had lost all the nine seats it had contested in the 2001 NCHAC elections.

BJP NC Hills district president Kulendra Daulagupu said the party had decided against fielding candidates in the seats in which it did not have a strong organizational base.

On the main agenda for the elections, Mr Daulagupu said, ''It will be a two-point one, to bring new ideas and policies in the minds of the people and check corruption and excesses of Congress.'' On the ASDC's demand for a separate state, Mr Deka said, ''We had no discussion on the issue and the alliance is purely election-based.'' UNI