Guwahati, May 20 (IANS): The newly-elected members of the Congress in Assam on Thursday elected Debabrata Saikia as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), the partys state unit chief Ripun Bora informed the Assembly Speaker on Thursday.

Son of two-time former Assam Chief Minister late Hiteswar Saikia (1983-1985 and 1991-1996), Debabrata Saikia (56), who was also the CLP and opposition leader in the previous Assembly, was re-elected from the Nazira Assembly seat where he defeated BJP candidate Mayur Borgohain by a thin margin of 683 votes.

Rajya Sabha member Bora, who lost the recent Assembly elections from Gohpur, said in his letter to the Speaker that Rakibul Hussain has been elected as the deputy leader of CLP.

As per the letter, which has been released to the media, Wajed Ali Choudhury has been elected as the chief whip of the CLP.

The Congress, which governed Assam for 15 years (2001 to 2016), failed to win the Assembly polls held in March-April, managing 29 seats, three more than its tally of 2016, when the party lost Assam to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Besides Bora, several other Congress leaders also lost in the recent elections to the 126-member state Assembly.

The first session of the newly constituted 15th Assam Legislative Assembly would begin from Friday.

Meanwhile, BJP MLA Biswajit Daimary on Thursday submitted his nomination paper for the post of Speaker, while party legislator Numal Momin will submit his candidature for the Deputy Speaker's post.