Long wait for results breeds varied speculations about next government in Assam
Guwahati:With the Assembly poll results expected only on May 19 next even though the elections were over on April 11 in Assam, speculations are rife and different electoral arithmetic are being doled out aloud in Assam about the parties likely to form the next government in the state.
Both the arch rivals Congress and BJP claim that the alliance respectively led by them will form the next government in the state even as the BJP’s key ally regional Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) claims that it is going to win in all the 24 LACs where the party has put up candidate.
The Congress has allied with United People’s Party (UPP), a newly-formed Bodo political party while the BJP has alliance with the AGP and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF).
While the BP claims that the alliance led by it will sweep the polls and form the next government toppling the Congress, the ruling party maintains that though some of its senior leaders may lose the poll battle, it still will get more than the required number of seats to form the government for the fourth consecutive term.
Meanwhile, an exit poll initiated by Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has indicated that the party will get 67 seats in the 126-member House and will form the next government though some of its senior leaders are likely to be defeated in the polls. It was also stated earlier by the APCC president Anjan Dutta.
A senior party leader, Chandan Sarkar, however, declined to make comment on which party leaders were going to win and who were not and stated that it was the Congress that would form the next government.
Many of the APCC leaders contacted expressed ignorance about the exit poll initiated by the party.
BJP spokesman Rupom Goswami dismissing the findings of the reported exit poll conducted by the Congress stated that during the 2014 Lok Sabha election there was a wave for the BJP which won seven out of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam and it was a tusunami (not mere wave) for the BJP during this Assembly election and BJP would be come ashore bagging over 80 seats to form the next government.
The second and final phase of polling to the Assam assembly in 61 constituencies saw 82.02 percent of the over one crore voters casting their ballot.
Polling officials estimate that the final poll percentage is likely to touch 85 percent as reports were still coming in from polling centres.