GUWAHATI, Nov 11: The newly-elected MLAs of the BJP-led alliance in Assam were sworn in by Assam Legislative Assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary here on Thursday.
The legislators who took oath include Sushanta Borgohain from Thowra constituency, Rupjyoti Kurmi from Mariani LAC, Phanidhar Talukdar from Bhabanipur LAC – all from BJP – while the other two MLAs, Jiron Basumatary from Gossaigaon and Jolen Daimary from Tamulpur constituency, belong to the United Peoples’ Party Liberal (UPPL).
The by-polls to the five constituencies were held on October 30 while the results were declared on November 2.
The three BJP legislators took their oath in Assamese while the two UPPL members read out their oath in Bodo.
Earlier, the oath-taking ceremony commenced with the playing of the national anthem and culminated with the state anthem.
The ruling alliance had secured a landslide victory in all the five seats with both BJP and UPPL defeating its nearest rivals by heavy margins. The biggest win was witnessed in Tamulpur LAC, with UPPL candidate Jolen Daimary routing Independent candidate Ganesh Kachary by over 50,000 votes.
With this triumph, the ruling BJP in Assam now has a tally of 62 legislators, while UPPL now has seven MLAs. Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), another ally which did not field any candidates in the by-polls, 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.
It may be recalled that the five seats fell vacant after the incumbent legislators of Tamulpur and Gossaigaon constituencies died after post-COVID complications, while the MLAs of the Thowra, Mariani and Bhabanipur constituencies quit their respective parties to join the ruling BJP.