Voters in a polling station in Rangia on Thursday.
GUWAHATI: As the second phase of polling ended on Thursday, the Mahajot seemed confident about doing well in Rangia. In 2016, the BJP had won the seat by winning over 40% of the votes.
Rangia has around 60,000 Muslim voters who form 30% of the electorate. Right from the first election in 1951, it had oscillated between the Congress and the Left parties, with the Congress winning the seat in 2011. This time, the Mahajot has fielded popular doctor Bhagwan Dev Misra of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
“Our victory is certain in Rangia. People are fed up with the BJP because of corruption charges, inability to prevent erosion by Puthimari river, and failure to revive the APOL textile mill, which was a household name once,” said Deven Bhattacharya, Assam state secretary of CPI (M). He felt that BJP’s “Hindutva politics” will cost it the seat.