SILCHAR, July 13: Altogether 116 candidates filed nominations for the forthcoming Municipality election to be held on July 31 in Silchar today.
Earlier, only 15 candidates had filed nomination papers. A district administration source said, altogether 131 candidates had filed nominations.
Today was the last day for filing nomination and both the major players Congress and BJP chose the day to file nomination resulting in over crowding in the Deputy Commissioner’s office. Congress had fielded candidates for all the 28 wards, though BJP had left Ward No. 8 to its ally AGP.
Interestingly, AGP, which had demanded eight seats from its senior partner here, decided not to field its candidates with its party symbol.
Hence in Ward No. 8, Congress found itself in a much easier position as there was no strong opposition. Charging the BJP with violation of alliance courtesy, AGP had earlier decided to field its own candidates as independents. But today, BJP worker Mahadev Kumar Das filed his nomination as an independent candidate in Ward No. 5.
Meanwhile, Kanad Purkaystha of BJP told The Sentinel that he had no idea whether AGP had fielded any candidate in Ward No. 8. “Considering the fact that the AGP had no strength and experience in contesting Municipality election in Silchar, we had decided to leave one seat for them only with respect to the alliance we had with the regional party. Similarly we had left one seat in Lakhipur Town Committee for the AGP,” maintained Purkayastha and said, “AGP should have filed their candidate in Ward No. 8. (Source – The Sentinel)