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Jailed activist Akhil Gogoi will contest the upcoming Assembly elections in Assam from the Sivasagar constituency of Upper Assam, his party Raijor Dal announced on Saturday evening.
The party, which is contesting the upcoming elections with a motto of developing a “politically federal, socially inclusive and economically self-reliant” Assam, announced a list of total 17 candidates for the first and the second phases of the elections, to be held on March 27 and April 1.
Gogoi (45) is a prominent peasants’ rights leader in Assam who is currently in jail for over a year now after being booked by the NIA on charges of sedition and those related to terrorism under provisions of the UAPA following his involvement in the anti-CAA protests in the state.
A spokesperson of the party told The Indian Express that it is expected as of now that Gogoi will contest from the jail.
Gogoi leads the farmers’ body Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) and is now the president of the new regionalist political party, the Raijor Dal, which has been formed by the KMSS and 70 other ethnic and cultural organisations.
The party is in alliance for the polls with another regional party, the Asom Jatiya Parishad (AJP), which also owes its origin to the anti-CAA protests.
The Raijor Dal and the AJP have chosen not to go with the Congress-led ‘grand alliance’ in the state.
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