Bye-elections to three Assam Assembly constituencies-Silchar, Lakhipur and Jamunamukh will be held on Saturday to decide the political fate of 25 contestants. Polling will be held from 7 AM to 5 PM in the three constituencies where 5,09,689 voters, including 2,44,543 women, are eligible to exercise their franchise in 588 polling stations, the Election Office said. Silchar has the highest number of 12 candidates followed by Jamunamukh with eight and Lakhipur with five. Arun Dutta Majumdar (Congress), Dilip Kumar Paul (BJP) and Nur Ahmed Barbhuyan (AIUDF) are among the prominent contestants in Silchar, while former MLA Dinesh Prasad Goala's son Rajdeep Goala (Congress), Mukesh Pandey (AIUDF) and Sanjay Thakur (BJP) are notables in Lakhipur. Jamunamukh has AIUDF president Badruddin Ajmal's son Abdur Rahim Ajmal, Bashir Uddin Laskar (Cong) and Bilal Uddin (BJP) in the fray among others. The bye-election was necessitated following the election of Silchar MLA Sushmita Dev and Jamunamukh MLA Mohammad Sirajuddin Ajmal to the Lok Sabha. The death of sitting MLA Dinesh Prasad Goala necessitated bypoll in Lakhipur. Counting of votes will be on September 16, the Election Office added.
