The counting of votes for 126 Assembly constituencies in Assam elections began at 8 a.m. May 2 across 331 halls amid “airtight” security and adherence to COVID-19 guidelines.
Three alliances had contested the three-phase elections held on March 27, April 1 and April 6. But the contest is expected to be between the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mitrajot (group of friends) and the 10-party Mahajot or grand alliance headed by Congress while the regional front of Assam Jatiya Parishad and jailed activist Akhil Gogoi’s Raijor Dal is expected to spring a surprise in a few seats.
Assam had a voters’ turnout of 82.04%, a tad less than the 84.72% recorded in 2016.
The BJP and its allies – Asom Gana Parishad, United People’s Party Liberal and Rabha Joutha Mancha – is confident of retaining power with more than 80 seats. If they do, it will be the first instance of a non-Congress party to secure a second successive term in Assam.
The Congress had ruled for three straight terms from 2001 to 2016 under former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.
The Congress too is confident of dislodging the BJP-led alliance by winning at least 75 seats. Its allies in the Mahajot include the All India United Democratic Front, Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) and and Rashtriya Janata Dal.
According to the office of Assam’s Chief Electoral Officer, 946 candidates including 74 women had contested the elections this time. The total was 118 fewer than the number of contestants in 2016.
About 2.34 crore voters, including 1.15 women and 398 transgender persons cast their votes across 33,530 polling stations. In 2016, the total number of voters was approximately 2 crore with 96.4 lakh of them women and 12 transgender persons.
