GUWAHATI, Nov 2: The BJP-led alliance on Tuesday secured a landslide victory in all the five seats of the Assam Assembly by-elections, with the saffron party’s candidates routing its nearest rivals in Mariani, Thowra and Bhabanipur constituencies while ally, United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) bagging the other two seats – Gossaigaon and Tamulpur – by heavy margins.
In Bhabanipur LAC in lower Assam’s Barpeta district, BJP candidate Phanidhar Talukdar secured as many as 64200 votes to defeat nearest rival Sailendra Nath Das (38559 votes) of Indian National Congress by 25641 votes.
Talukdar, it may be noted, had earlier this year, won the seat as an AIUDF candidate.
With this win, the saffron party has made its presence in Bhabanipur, which has over the past several years (three terms) been a bastion of the Badruddin Ajmal-led All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF).
In Thowra LAC in Upper Assam’s Sivasagar district, Sushanta Borgohain of BJP (54,956 votes) defeated nearest rival Dhaijya Konwar (24395) of Raijor Dal (contested as an Independent) by 30,561 votes.
Borgohain, a former Congressman, had won the seat earlier this year but later joined BJP in the interest of development which the ruling party has been promising in the state.
Sources said that Raijor Dal has split the Congress vote across the 20 panchayats under Thowra constituency with the electorate reposing faith on the candidate and the ruling party.
The story was similar in Mariani, with former Congressman and now BJP candidate, Rupjyoti Kurmi (55489) scoring a thumping win by defeating his nearest rival Luhit Konwar (15385) of Congress by 40, 104 votes.
With this triumph, Kurmi, a representative of the state’s tea community, was elected MLA for the fifth time from Mariani.
The ruling BJP’s ally, UPPL put up a stellar performance as well, with party candidate Jiron Basumatary (58769) defeating nearest rival Jowel Tudu (30517) of Congress by 28252 votes in Gossaigaon LAC.
The biggest win of the bypolls however was witnessed in Tamulpur LAC, with UPPL candidate Jolen Daimary routing nearest rival Independent candidate Ganesh Kachary by a whopping margin of 57059 votes. Daimary bagged as many as 86,678 votes while Kachary received 29,619 votes.
Earlier, counting of votes commenced from 8am onwards in 18 halls for the five constituencies, where arrangements for 98 counting tables were made amid tight security and in adherence to the prescribed COVID-19 norms.
The trends in favour of the ruling alliance however became clear in the opening rounds before noon itself with the BJP and UPPL candidates extending their lead as the day progressed.
A total of 31 candidates were in the fray for the five seats having an electorate of 7.96 lakh voters.
The ruling BJP fielded candidates in three of the five seats, while ally UPPL contested the remaining two seats.
The Opposition Congress contested in all the five seats, while its former Mahajot allies, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) contested in two seats and one seat respectively.
With this triumph, the ruling BJP in Assam has three more MLAs in its camp, taking its tally of legislators to 62, while UPPL now has seven MLAs. Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), another ally, has nine MLAs.
Opposition Congress currently has 27 MLAs, AIUDF 15 MLAs, BPF MLAs three while CPM and Raijor Dal have one legislator each in the 126-member Assam Assembly.
The by-polls in Gossaigaon and Tamulpur were necessitated by the demise of its sitting MLAs owing to post COVID-19 complications earlier this year, while the incumbent Opposition legislators of Thowra, Mariani and Bhabanipur had vacated their posts to join the ruling party.