GUWAHATI: Sabda Ram Rabha from the Congress Party is one of the nine candidates contesting in the ongoing Lok Sabha (LS) elections for the Kokrajhar LS seat.
Rabha, an advocate by profession, has been chosen by the Congress Party to oust the sitting MP from the Kokrajhar constituency, Naba (Hira) Sarania, who is also an ex-Ulfa militant leader.
Both Rabha and Independent candidate Sarania belong to non-Bodo communities in a constituency that is dominated by Bodos.
Rabha, a former AASU leader, was in Asom Gana Parishad before joining BJP just before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. In 2016, he left BJP to join Congress. He has lost all three elections that he has contested so far.
The 50 year old candidate is married to Manomati Rabha and has a daughter.
In the affidavit submitted by Sabda Ram Rabha along with his nomination for the Kokrajhar LS seat, it was mentioned that Rabha owns Rs 35 lakhs worth of movable assets, of which Rs 3.97 lakhs is cash.
Rabha also owns a Mahindra Bolero car and an Enfield Bullet Thunderbird bike.
In addition, Rabha has Rs 9 lakhs worth of immovable assets with no inherited property in his name.
Since 1957, when the Kokrajhar LS constituency first went to polls, the constituency has been held by various parties and Independent candidates.
The constituency, which is reserved for scheduled tribes, remained at the hands of Congress from 1957 to 1971.
For over a decade starting from 1991 to 2004, Independent candidates represented the seat; it however went to BPF’s Sansuma Khunggur Bwiswmuthiary in 2009.
Altogether 17,65,423 voters have enrolled themselves to exercise their franchise across 2,347 booths in the Kokrajhar LS constituency.
Of the electors, 9,00,318 are male, 8,65,066 female and 39 are third gender voters.
Kokrajhar LS seat covers 10 assembly segments – Gossaigaon, Kokrajhar West (ST), Kokrajhar East (ST), Sidli (ST), Bijni, Sorbhog, Bhabanipur, Tamulpur, Barama (ST), and Chapaguri (ST).