BJP, regional allies sweep North East bypolls

Congress slips further in eastern Assam, once its domain.

In Assam, the BJP had fielded candidates in three constituencies while its ally, the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) contested two in the Bodoland Territorial Region.

The BJP and its regional allies have swept the nine Assembly seats across three northeastern States where byelections were held on October 30.

Congress, the only party that contested all the seats, suffered a bigger margin of defeat than in previous polls. But the party’s slide was starkest in eastern Assam, once its domain.

In Assam, the BJP had fielded candidates in three constituencies while its ally, the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) contested two in the Bodoland Territorial Region. All three BJP candidates were defectors — two from the Congress and one from the All India United Democratic Front.

Rupjyoti Kurmi topped the victory chart for the saffron camp by securing 62.38% of the votes to win the Mariani seat. Sushanta Borgohain followed with 61.99% of the votes to win Thowra and Phanidhar Talukdar won the Bhabanipur seat by securing 56.41% of the votes. Mariani and Thowra are in eastern Assam.

With 6.65% of the votes, the Congress candidate finished third in Thowra behind Dhaijya Konwar of Raijor Dal (contested as an independent) led by Akhil Gogoi. The grand old party’s Mariani candidate took the second spot but ended up with 0.22% votes more than his Raijor Dal counterpart.

The Congress did not fare any better in western Assam’s Tamulpur constituency, finishing third with 5.41% of the votes behind victor Jolen Daimary of UPPL and a second-placed independent candidate.

In Gossaigaon further west, the Congress candidate polled 20.58% votes to take the second spot behind UPPL’s Jiron Basumatary.

“The election results are a loud endorsement of the people’s faith in our government,” Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

“The people have given their verdict and we respect that. We hope the CM keeps the promises he made during the campaign,” State Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah said.

With Tuesday’s results, the BJP’s count in the 126-member Assam Assembly increased to 62 and the UPPL’s to seven.

In Meghalaya, the dissension-troubled Congress failed to retain the Mawryngkneng and Rajabala seats against the National People’s Party (NPP) and was not strong enough to challenge the United Democratic Party (UDP) in Mawphlang.

Eugeneson Lyngdoh, the Mawphlang victor, was one of the highest-paid Indian footballers and the son of UDP legislator S.K. Sunn, whose death necessitated the by-election.

The NPP now has 23 MLAs and the UDP, its ally, has eight. The NPP and UDP are members of the BJP-fronted North East Democratic Alliance, as is the Mizo National Front (MNF) that rules Mizoram.

The MNF won the Tuirial seat, wresting it from the Zoram People’s Movement. The Congress finished third.

Another BJP ally, the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party had won the Shamator-Chessore seat in Nagaland uncontested.