Congress Names 40 Star Campaigners for Nagaon Lok Sabha By-Election

: The Congress has named 40 leaders, including senior party functionaries and prominent Assam leaders, as star campaigners for the Nagaon Lok Sabha by-election scheduled for October 6. The list was submitted to the Election Commission by Congress general secretary K C Venugopal on September 16 under Section 77(1) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Among the prominent leaders included in the list are former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi , Congress MLA Wazed Ali Choudhury, former Assam minister Rakibul Hussain, party spokesperson Pawan Khera, Supriya Shrinate, NSUI national president Uday Bhanu Chib and Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar. The party has also included Assam Congress leader Debabrata Saikia, former Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Ripun Bora, former minister Paban Singh Ghatowar, Alka Lamba, Imran Pratapgarhi, Srinivas BV and former Tripura minister Sudip Roy Barman. Other Assam-based leaders named as star campaigners include Satyabrata Kalita, Nandita Das, Abdul Khaleque, Aminul Islam, Diganta Barman, Ramanna Baruah, Nirmal Langthasa, Deep Bayan, Mira Barthakur Goswami and Kaushik Kashyap Kalita. The Congress released the campaigner list ahead of the Nagaon by-election, necessitated by the resignation of former Lok Sabha MP Pradyut Bordoloi. Bordoloi stepped down from the Lok Sabha and left the Congress to contest the Assam Assembly election from Dispur on a BJP ticket. Polling for the Nagaon Lok Sabha by-election is scheduled to take place on October 6, with counting of votes set for October 9.