The BJP on Saturday announced Kanad Purkayastha, son of former Union minister Kabindra Purkayastha, as its candidate for one of the two Rajya Sabha seats from Assam.
The election will be held on June 19, while the last day of filing nominations is June 9.
Kanad Purkayastha, in his late fifties, is a state unit secretary hailing from Silchar in the Bengali-majority Barak Valley. He was a former All India Radio Silchar announcer but is now a full-time party worker. His father was a former minister of state for communication in 1998-99 in the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
The two Rajya Sabha seats which will fall vacant are presently being represented by Mission Ranjan Das of the BJP and Birendra Prasad Baishya of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), an NDA ally.
Purkayastha has been nominated in place of Das, while the AGP has formed a three-member committee to shortlist its nominee.
The BJP-AGP-UPPL ruling alliance is set to retain both the seats with the help of “friendly” MLAs, given the “disunity” in the Opposition camp.
The Congress sources said that there was no discussion about the Rajya Sabha polls in the political affairs committee meeting held on Friday, while an All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) MLA said they neither had the number nor an alliance with the Congress. The alliance between the Congress and the AIUDF snapped after the Rajya Sabha polls in 2022 when Congress candidate Ripun Bora lost despite having the required numbers to win the seat.
The Opposition had 44 votes when it required 43 votes to win the second seat in the 126-member House. Bora could manage only 35 votes because of cross-voting.
Thanking the central and state leadership for nominating him, Purkaystha told the media that his nomination was an acknowledgement of his dedication to the party and was a significant moment in his political journey.
State BJP president Dilip Saikia, welcoming the announcement of Purkayastha’s candidature, said he “had long served the party in various capacities and, as a member of an ideologically committed family since childhood, has consistently worked with devotion”.
Saikia said: “As son of the party’s veteran Kabindra Purkayastha, Kanad is expected to strongly represent the aspirations of the people of Assam and uphold the principles and vision of the BJP in the Upper House of Parliament.”