A day after being elected to the Rajya Sabha from Assam, Union ports, shipping, waterways & Ayush minister Sarbananda Sonowal resigned as the Majuli MLA on Tuesday.
Sonowal submitted his resignation letter as the MLA of Assam’s Majuli Assembly constituency to the Speaker of Assam Legislative Assembly, Biswajit Daimary.
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In his resignation letter to the Assam Assembly Speaker, Sonowal wrote: “I hereby tender my resignation of my seat in the Assembly with effect from today, 28th September 2021.”
With the resignation of Sonowal, the Majuli Assembly seat has become vacant.
Earlier, 5 Assembly seats remained vacant in Assam.
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Also read: Assam: Sarbananda Sonowal elected to Rajya Sabha
On Tuesday, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the dates for the 30 Assembly seats in different states of the country including 10 seats in the Northeast.
According to the Election Commission, the Assembly by-polls will be held on October 30, 2021.
In the Northeast, the by-polls will be held in Assam, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Nagaland.
In Assam, the Assembly by-polls will be held in 5 constituencies including 28-Gossaigaon, 41-Bhabanipur, 58-Tamulpur, 101-Mariani, and 107-Thowra.
On Monday, Union minister Sonowal was declared elected to the Rajya Sabha from Assam uncontested as no other candidate filed nomination papers for the seat.
Sonowal collected the winner’s certificate on Monday from the Assam Assembly Secretariat at Dispur in presence of Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, State BJP president Bhabesh Kalita, water resources minister Pijush Haarika.
While addressing the media, Sonowal thanked all the members of the Assembly and the people of the state.
The former Assam chief minister filed nomination papers for Rajya Sabha on September 21, 2021.
In 2016, Sonowal won the Assembly election from Majuli constituency and became the chief minister.
He was elected to the Assam Assembly for the second time in the Assam Assembly elections 2021.
After the BJP-led alliance came to power in Assam in May this year, the party high command announced Himanta Biswa Sarma, who served as the finance, health & education minister during Sonowal’s regime, as the chief minister.
As Sarma became the chief minister of Assam, Sonowal was made a Cabinet minister in the Narendra Modi ministry.
But Sonowal was needed to be elected to the Rajya Sabha in order to continue his current role in the central government.
The Rajya Sabha by-poll in Assam was slated for October 4, 2021 but as there was no other candidate, fielded by any party or candidate, Sonowal was declared the winner of the Rajya Sabha by-polls.
The Rajya Sabha by-poll in Assam was necessitated after BJP member Biswajit Daimary resigned from the Upper House.