Guwahati: The BJP-led ruling NDA headed for a clean sweep of all five Assembly constituencies in Assam bypolls on Saturday.
BJP’s ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) won the Bongaigaon Assembly seat. AGP’s Diptimayee Choudhury won the seat by defeating Congress candidate Brajenjit Singha with a margin of 35,164 votes.
Another ally of the ruling party, United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) registered its win in the Sidli Assembly seat after defeating Congress. UPPL’s Nirmal Kumar Brahma won with a margin of 37,016 votes by defeating Bodoland Peoples Front candidate Suddho Kumar Basumatary.
While Brahma secured 95,243 votes, Basumatary managed to receive only 58,227 votes.
Earlier in the day, BJP candidate from Behali Assembly constituency Diganta Ghatowal defeated Congress’s Jayanta Borah by a margin of 9,051 votes. Ghatowal secured 50,947 votes, while his nearest rival Borah received 41,896 votes.
The seat was earlier held by Ranjit Dutta who was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Tezpur parliamentary seat.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma termed it a testament to people’s support for “good governance and development”.
The chief minister extended his gratitude to the people for their support and reiterated his commitment to work for the development of the state.
“We bow in gratitude to the people of Assam. The NDA’s 5/5 victory in the current by-elections is a resounding testament to Assam’s unwavering support for Adarniya @narendramodi Ji’s vision of good governance and development,” Sarma posted on X.
We bow in gratitude to the people of Assam 🙏🏽
The NDA’s 5/5 victory in the current by-elections is a resounding testament to Assam’s unwavering support for Adarniya @narendramodi Ji’s vision of good governance and development.
A special mention for Samaguri, a constituency with… pic.twitter.com/a7cqaVwvQT
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) November 23, 2024
“A big shoutout to our dedicated Karyakartas who took our message of development to every booth!” he added.
The BJP candidates in the two other seats – Samaguri and Dholai – are leading with comfortable margins and are poised for victory.
Counting of votes began at 8 am under tight security for bypolls held on November 13 across five Assembly constituencies.
The five seats went vacant after five legislators, including a cabinet minister, were elected to Parliament in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
This included two MLAs from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including a cabinet minister, along with one each from alliance partners Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United Peoples Party Liberal (UPPL), as well as one from the opposition Congress.
BJP’s former Cabinet Minister Parimal Suklabaidya successfully contested in the Silchar Lok Sabha seat and his earlier Assembly seat Dholai was vacant. Meanwhile, another senior BJP leader Ranjit Dutta was elected to the Lok Sabha this time. He was representing the Behali seat in the Assembly.
The AGP opened its account in Parliament this time with its senior leader Phani Bhusan Choudhury being elected from the Barpeta Lok Sabha seat. The party contested in two parliamentary constituencies in the state, however, it lost polls in Dhubri to Congress candidate Rakibul Hussain.
Congress leader Rakibul Hussain defeated the three-time AIUDF MP and party chief Badruddin Ajmal in the Dhubri Lok Sabha seat with a margin of more than 10 lakh votes reinforcing his status as a five-time legislator from the Samuguri assembly seat.
Meanwhile, UPPL’s Joyanta Basumatary, the former MLA from Sidli, also made headlines by securing the Kokrajhar seat.
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The BJP contested in three of the five constituencies – Behali, Samaguri and Dholai – while its alliance partners AGP and UPPL put up candidates for Bongaigaon and Sidli seats. The Congress contested all the five constituencies.
