Roadshows & rallies bring down poll curtain

Guwahati: Campaign for the third and final phase of Lok Sabha elections, scheduled to be held on May 7 in Assam, culminated on Sunday evening with political parties taking out roadshows, bike and public rallies despite heavy rain lashing districts in lower and western Assam where polls are due.
Four Lok Sabha seats – Guwahati, Barpeta, Dhubri, and Kokrajhar – will go to polls in the third phase.
Mega rallies by the BJP, the AGP, the UPPL, and the Congress marked the end of the poll campaign in the four seats. The Lok Sabha polls kept Assam in election mode for more than a month, even during the state’s biggest festival, Rongali Bihu in mid-April.
However, on the last day of the campaign, heavy rain in various parts of lower and west Assam disrupted poll rallies. Due to inclement weather, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had to cancel his programmes at Mankachar and Goalpara as the chopper had to return before landing.
Sarma was scheduled to campaign for AGP candidate Zabed Islam who is in the fray against AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal and Congress’s Rakibul Hussain for the Dhubri parliamentary seat. Nevertheless, Sarma later addressed a public meeting in Azara and a roadshow in Sualkuchi on the outskirts of Guwahati city.
From PM Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, all campaigned in different phases in Assam. Rahul Gandhi, however, skipped campaigning in the state due to ill health.
While the BJP’s prime focus has been to make Modi PM again and the saffron alliance campaigned on their efforts in the last 10 years in giving connectivity boost, reducing militancy, bringing transparency in employment, making healthcare accessible, and education “free”, among other agendas, the Congress targeted the BJP-led govt for “price rise, joblessness, corruption, religious polarisation and citizenship issues”, among others.
In the third phase, a total of 47 candidates are in the contest. Sitting MP from Dhubri, Ajmal is seeking re-election for a fourth consecutive term. Dhubri has about 85% Muslim voters and the highest number of electorate in the state.