RS polls in Assam today, PM's victory certain

Guwahati, May 30: Polling for two Rajya Sabha seats from Assam will be held on Thursday with the victory of Prime Minister and Congress candidate Manmohan Singh certain in one of the seats.

[Read: Congress issues whip]

Singh's victory is certain as he is the only contestant for the first preference votes of 78 Congress MLAs in the 126-member Assembly, while Santius Kujur of Congress and AIUDF's Aminul Islam are vying for the second seat.

The Prime Minister's four sets of nomination papers endorsed by 40 MLAs submitted under oath to the Returning Officer on May 15 at the Assembly were found in order on scrutiny day on May 23.

Singh had filed a fresh affidavit two days before scrutiny correcting his age in his nomination papers as 80 years and not 82 years.

Polling would be held from 9 am to 4 pm at the Assembly and votes would be counted the same day at 5 pm with the election process completed before June 3 next as per the Election Commission of India May 13 notification.

All arrangements have been completed for voting by the legislators for the second seat contestants, assembly sources said on Wednesday.

The All India United Democratic Front's (AIUDF) is the single largest Opposition party in the House with 18 seats.

Kujur is an adivasi leader from the Christian community who had contested the last assembly polls from Panery in Udalguri district, while Islam is AIUDF's General Secretary and an advocate in the Gauhati High Court.

The Opposition BJP with five MLAs have decided to abstain from the polls as they support the candidature of neither contestants.

PTI