GUWAHATI: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its partners the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) has more or less “finalized” their seat sharing agreement for the first phase of elections in Assam.
A formal announcement is likely to be made by today evening, March 3, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi puts his seal of approval to the list.
As many as four sitting legislators of AGP are likely to lose their ticket, while 12 sitting MLAs from ruling party of the BJP may have to bite the dust. BJP’s new ally UPPL is likely to get 12 seats to contest in Bodo Territorial Region.
As per sources, the "agreement on 99 per cent" of the seats was discussed at a high-level meeting attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP President J P Nadda, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal at the home minister’s residence.
BJP's state unit chief Ranjit Dass, AGP President and state minister Atul Bora, UPPL chief Pramod Boro, BJP leader and state minister Himanta Biswa Sarma were also a part of the meeting.
However, a formal announcement regarding the number of seats each party will contest on will be made in a day or two, the sources said.
Assam has 126 assembly constituencies.
The sources further added that the AGP, which won 14 constituencies in the 2016 assembly elections, is expected to contest from 25 seats.The BJP, which had won 60 seats in 2016, will contest the rest of the constituencies.
The BJP leaders met separately at the residence of JP Nadda after the meeting to scrutinise the list of the party's candidates for the polls.
The BJP Central Election Committee, comprising top leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is likely to meet on Thursday to approve the first list of candidates.