Guwahati, Apr 16 (IANS): After around a week's stay in Rajasthan, the candidates of AIUDF, an ally of the Congress-led 'Mahajot' (grand alliance) in Assam, returned to the northeastern state on Friday following the surge in the number of Covid cases in the Congress ruled desert state.

Sources in the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) said that fearing poaching of their candidates after the counting of votes for Assam Assembly polls on May 2, the party nominees had gone to Rajasthan last week.

However, with the Covid situation worsening in Rajasthan, all the 19 candidates have to come back to Assam now.

AIUDF leaders told the media in Guwahati that they had gone to Rajasthan for a vacation after hectic electioneering.

"In Rajasthan, we offered prayers at the Ajmer Sharif and had a discussion with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on the political situation in the state and elsewhere," an AIUDF candidate said.

Another AIUDF nominee, Aminul Islam, said: "The BJP might try to indulge in horse-trading after the declaration of results, something which the saffron party had done in several states, including Meghalaya, Manipur and Goa."

Another partner in the Mahajot, Bodoland People's Front (BPF), has reportedly shifted its candidates from Assam to an undisclosed country foreseeing poaching by the BJP.

Different media reports in Guwahati said that the BPF candidates, along with 16 elected members of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), have gone to Bhutan or Singapore.

The three-phase elections to elect the 126-member Assam assembly were held on March 27, April 1 and April 6. The results would be declared on May 2.