BJP registers spectacular win in Assam's rural elections

Similarly, the BJP also did very well in Maharashtra’s Dhulia civic body elections wresting the corporation from Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in the just concluded elections. But both these news could not find the light of the day because of the BJP’s defeat in three northern Hindi heartland states – the event most celebrated by the mainstream media (MSM).

The BJP did spectacularly well in Assam Panchayat polls by bagging 210 zilla panchayats (ZPs), 786 Anchalik Parishads (APs), 5356 Gram Panchayat Members, and 817 Gram Panchayat presidents’ posts in the just concluded civic body elections.

The Congress, on the other hand, pocketed 145 ZPs, 574 Aps, 3912 Gram Panchayat Members and 571 GP presidents’ posts to come to the second slot. The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) which is in alliance with BJP in the state, has won 19 ZPs, 85 APs, 1113 GP members and 119 GP presidents while the AIUDF bagged 26 ZPs, 103 APs, 402 GP Members and 93 GP Presidents’ posts.

On the second day of panchayat elections the BJP maintained its winning spree by bagging 63 out of 105 ZP constituencies. The Congress got 28 and AGP 7. According to the results officially declared till Thursday noon, the BJP bagged 5,095 GP wards, the Congress 3,690, the AGP 931 and the AIUDF got 483.

Results of 1,363 Gaon Panchayat president posts were declared till noon. The BJP got 573 of them, followed by the Congress which won 416 and the AGP which got 186. The AIUDF got 63 GP presidents elected and the Independents bagged 117.

BJP swept clean in Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal’s Assembly segment Majuli by winning all the four zila parishad seats. The BJP is also going to form zila parishads in Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Sonitpur, Morigaon, Kamrup and Golaghat districts. The ruling party is also set to form zila parishad in the districts in the North Bank. The AGP is going to form the Bongaigaon Zila Parishad with the support of the BJP.

Buoyed by the victories, the ruling BJP celebrated a ‘Vijay Utsav’ at its State headquarters at Hengrabari here.

The Congress was down, but not out. Opposition leader Debabrata Saikia said the results are not a setback to the party. “Despite an anti-incumbency factor, the Congress had managed to get 87 per cent of the seats in the last panchayat elections in 2013. So the BJP should have got much more. We feel if we put our house in order, we could do much better in the upcoming polls,” he maintained.

Reacting to the rural poll results before the media, AGP president Atul Bora said: “We’ve accepted people’s mandate. We’re going to introspect as to why our performance in the poll has not been up to our expectation. I congratulate the BJP for their success.”