Assam CM hopeful of Congress victory

JORHAT: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Thursday said the Congress would definitely win more than the nine seats it had won in the state in 2004 due to the development work undertaken by his government.

"Never before so much development work had been done in the state as it was done by my government. We have been successful in bringing in central funds for development.

People will vote for development and we will increase our seats from last time", a confident chief minister told newsmen after casting his vote for the the prestigious Jorhat Lok Sabha constituency in Jorhat town.

Gogoi exercised his franchise at polling booth number 83 set up in Debi Charan High School here, where Union minister Bijoy Krishna Handique's wife was among the first voters to cast her ballot.

Gogoi's brother and Koliabor constituency sitting MP Dip Gogoi also cast his vote in the same polling station.

Union minister B K Handique, seeking re-election from Jorhat, is locked in an electoral battle with BJP's Kamakhya Prasad Tasa, a tea community leader in this tea industry major constituency, CPI's sitting MLA Dhrupad Borgohain and five others.

Polling for 11 Lok Sabha seats were being held in the state today amidst tight security. Elections for three seats were held in the first phase on April 16.