Lok Sabha election 2019: Assam’s Tezpur seat may give BJP a headache
BJP’s Ram Prasad Sarmah who won the Tezpur seat in 2014 beating Bhupen Kumar Borah of the Congress has threatened to quit the party if it doesn’t give him a ticket .
Tezpur is a vital Parliamentary constituency in Assam spread across Lakhimpur, Sonitpur and Udalguri districts. The BJP’s Ram Prasad Sarmah won the seat in 2014 beating Bhupen Kumar Borah of the Congress. Tezpur had long been a Congress stronghold before the Asom Gana Parishad stopped the grand old party in 2009.
Over the last two years, Ram Prasad Sarmah has fallen out with the and there is speculation that the party may nominate Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the convenor of the North East Democratic Alliance to contest the seat. He has threatened to quit the BJP if Sarma is nominated in his place.
Voting in Tezpur will take place on April 11.
An advocate by qualification, the MP’s relation with the BJP began to sour about two years ago after he accused the state government of going soft on the Assam Public Service Commission recruitment scam.
According to the 2011 census, out of total 2132438 population 91% is rural and 9% is urban population. The Scheduled castes (SC) and Scheduled tribes (ST) ratio is 5.91 and 13.23, respectively out of total population. A large number of the electorate are tea garden workers.
Tezpur Lok Sabha constituency in numbers:
Name of the Lok Sabha constituency: Tezpur
Reservation nature of constituency: General
Sitting MP, Party: Ram Prasad Sarmah, BJP
Winning margin in 2014: 132,446 votes
Runner up name, party: Bhupen Kumar Borah, Congress
Number of voters in 2014: 980,688
Percentage of votes polled in 2014: 77.86
Number of polling booths in 2014: 1763
Number of women voters: 604,702