Clash of titans in Assam assembly first phase polls Guwahati, April 1 (PTI) The first phase of Assam assembly polls on April 4 will witness a clash of titans with Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi from Congress, many of his cabinet colleagues, BJP state president and AGP leaders in the fray.Gogoi is contesting from his home turf of Titabar in Upper Assam for a straight third term posing a tough challenge to seven other contestants from BJP, AGP, CPI, NCP, AIUDF, Trinamool Congress, besides an independent.Among the 485 candidates contesting 62 of the 126 assembly seats, the top leaders in the fray include ministers Bharat Chandra Narah, Gautam Roy, Pradyut Bordoloi, Ajanta Neog and Prithibi Majhi.Narah, the cultural affairs minister is seeking relection for a sixth term from Dhakuakhana (ST), from where he was elected for the first time in 1985 as an AGP nominee.Roy, the Excise minister is contesting for the sixth term from Katlicherra, while Power minister Pradyut Bordoloi is seeking a third term from Margherita.PWD minister Ajanta Neog and Labour minister Prithibi Majhi are in the fray again from Golaghat and Lahowal, respectively, while Speaker Tanka Bahadur Rai is contesting for the third time from Barchalla.BJP state president and sitting MLA Ranjit Dutta is seeking re-election from Bihali in Sonitpur district competing with four others from Congress, AIUDF, CPI-ML and an independent.AGP''s prominent leaders battling it out are its former president Brindabon Goswami, Padma Hazarika, Sahidul Alam Choudhury, Apurba Kumar Bhattacharjee and Atul Bora.Goswami, a former minister, is locked in a multi-cornered contest with seven others, including Congress, AGP, BJP and Trinamool Congress.Hazarika is seeking re-election from Sootea constituency, former All Assam Students Union president Atul Bora from Bokakhat, Sahidul Alam Choudhury from Algapur for the sixth time and AGP spokesman Apurba Kumar Bhattacharjee is locked in a multi-pronged contest in Dhekiajuli.The other heavyweights are veterans Govindra Chandra Langthasa of Congress, Promode Gogoi and Dhrupad Borgohain of CPI.Langthasa (78) is recontesting in a quadrangular battle at Haflong (ST) for a sixth term.79-year-old CPI national council member and former minister Promode Gogoi, who has been an MLA for various terms since 1957, is contesting the prestigious Sibsagar seat.Sitting MLA Dhrupad Borgohain is fighting to retain his Nazira constituency, where former chief minister Hiteswar Saikia''s son Debabrata Saikia is trying his electoral fortune for the first time.An accused in the multi-crore Rupees N C Hills District Autonomous Council scam, Mohet Hojai, has also joined the poll fray from jail as an Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC) contestant from Haflong (ST).