Guwahati: Former Chief Minister and Union Minister for shipping, ports, waterways, and Ayush, Sarbananda Sonowal filed his nomination papers for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls in Assam on Tuesday.
While submitting the papers before Returning Officer Dulal Pegu at Assam Assembly in Guwahati the minister was accompanied by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) leader and Agriculture Minister Atul Bora, United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) leader, and Handloom and Textile Minister U G Brahma, Bodoland Territorial Region chief Pramod Bodo, BJP state president Bhabesh Kalita, and cabinet ministers and saffron party leaders.
Sonowal currently represents the Majuli seat in the 126-member Assembly. His nomination to the Upper House in Parliament became necessary after he was made a Union Minister.
The seat is one of seven across the country where elections would be conducted on October 4 and the last date for the filing of nominations for the Rajya Sabha polls is September 22.
It may be mentioned that five assembly seats are currently vacant including two Congress and one All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) legislator resigning their parties to join the BJP, and two UPPL MLAs succumbing to COVID-19. After Sonowal’s resignation as an MLA, the number of vacant seats will increase to six.