Assam: BJP Fields Parimal Suklabaidya From Silchar

The BJP has announced candidates for 11 seats out of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam. BJP allies Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) will be contesting in the remaining seats. Parimal Suklabaidya will be the party candidate from the Silchar Lok Sabha constituency.

Parimal Suklabadya is currently serving as minister in the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led Assam government. The veteran leader is holding major portfolios, including Transport, Fisheries, and Excise, in the Assam government. He is representing the Dholai legislative assembly constituency, which is a part of Silchar. Parimal Suklabaidya is one of the most senior BJP leaders from Assam’s Barak Valley. He is also a five-time MLA of Dholai constituency.

In 1991, Parimal Suklabadya entered the Assam Legislative Assembly for the first time. During the 1991 Assam Assembly polls, the BJP leader secured 32,678 votes and defeated Asom Gana Parishad candidate Kamakhya Prasad Mala with a margin of 16,312 votes. However, Parimal Suklabadya lost the 1996 Assembly polls. He made a significant comeback in the Dholai Assembly constituency in the 2001 and 2006 polls.

In the 2011 Assembly polls, Parimal Suklabadya again lost the Dholai seat as Congress candidate Girindra Mallik defeated him. Parimal Suklabaidya again became MLA from the same seat in the next election. Notably, he also became a minister in the Sarbananda Sonowal-led Assam government in 2016. With a margin of 20,392 votes, Parimal Suklabaidya again won the Dholai constituency in the 2021 Assembly polls.

Minister Parimal Suklabadya made headlines in March 2023, reportedly following the death of a motorcyclist who was knocked over by a car in his convoy. According to India Today NE, the incident happened when Parimal Suklabaidya’s convoy was on its way to Guwahati.

Silchar is the sitting seat of the BJP, as party candidate Rajdeep Roy won the 2019 general elections with a huge margin of 81,596 votes.