Guwahati, Nov 23: The ruling BJP and its allies, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the United Peoples’ Party Liberal (UPPL), swept the bye-elections in Assam, winning all the five seats – Dholai, Sidli, Behali, Bongaigaon and Samaguri – by large margins.
The highlight of the clean sweep by the NDA alliance in the state was the triumph in Samaguri, a Congress stronghold for 25 years, where BJP candidate Diplu Ranjan Sarma defeated Congress’ Tanzil Hussain by a margin of over 26,200 votes.
Tanzil, it may be noted, is the son of Congress leader and Dhubri MP Rakibul Hussain, who had vacated the seat after winning the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year.
The result in Samaguri was much awaited as the run-up to the bypolls in the seat under Nagaon district, saw a series of clashes and violent incidents, primarily involving supporters and workers of the ruling BJP and Opposition Congress.
The ruling party secured another major victory in Behali, where BJP candidate Diganta Ghatowal defeated Congress rival Jayanta Borah by over 9,000 votes.
Notably, ahead of the bypoll, Congress had delayed naming the candidate, and even had a rift with the United Opposition alliance, after deciding to contest the bypoll separately instead of a common candidate that the alliance had earlier planned to field.
The ruling party had the last laugh in Dholai and Behali as well even as initial trends had indicated the same. In Dholai, BJP’s Nihar Ranjan Das defeated his closest rival, Dhrubajyoti Purkayastha of Congress, by a margin of over 9000 votes.
In Sidli, United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) candidate Nirmal Kumar Brahma won by a huge margin of over 36,000 votes against his nearest rival Suddho Kumar Basumatary from the Bodo People’s Front (BPF).
In Bongaigaon, Asom Gana Parishad’s (AGP) Diptimoyee Chowdhury, wife of former minister and AGP leader, Phani Bhushan Chowdhury, defeated Congress’ Brajenjit Singha by a significant margin of over 30,000 votes.
Meanwhile, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma thanked the people of the state after the NDA alliance secured a resounding 5-0 victory in the by-polls. Sarma had a special mention for Samaguri, terming the win as historic.
“It is a historic victory as Samaguri, a constituency with a 65 percent minority population, held by Congress for 25 years, has now been won by the BJP. This historic victory reaffirms people’s trust in our welfare agenda and their firm rejection of the Opposition’s divisive politics,” he said.