BJP nominates Pallab Lochan Das from Tezpur LS seat in Assam

The BJP has named Assam Minister Pallab Lochan Das as its candidate for Tezpur Lok Sabha constituency, replacing sitting MP Ram Prasad Sharma who quit the party on March 16 alleging "neglect by the new intruders".

The saffron party released on Friday its second list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls containing 36 names, including that of Lochan, who holds the portfolios of labour ministry and tea tribes welfare in Assam.

Das was elected from Rangapara constituency to the Assam Assembly in 2011 on a Congress ticket. He joined the saffron party along with Finance Minister Himanta Sarma and several other Congress leaders in 2016.

He was appointed minister of state (MoS) for power in the Sarbananda Sonowal-led government on the year of his joining the saffron party, and was later accorded MoS (independent) charge of labour welfare, tea tribe welfare and education departments in a reshuffle.

Tezpur will be going to polls in the first phase on April 11, when Das will lock