BJP and its allies sweep Northeast bypolls

In Assam, the ruling BJP-led alliance won all five constituencies — Gossaigaon, Tamulpur, Bhabanipur, Mariani and Thowra. While BJP bagged three seats, its ally United Peoples’ Party Liberal (UPPL) won the other two.

“Today’s victory is not a normal victory. In each of the five seats, we won by margins which we did not even get during the Assembly elections, it is a victory of BJP’s development in the state,” said Sarma. The bypolls were his first electoral test as chief minister.

BJP’s Rupjyoti Kurmi and Sushanta Borgohain, who had defected from Congress, won in Mariani and Thowra, by securing 62.38 per cent and 61.99 per cent of the total votes, respectively. Another BJP candidate Phanidhar Talukdar retained the Bhabanipur seat, which he had earlier won on an All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) ticket. In the Bodo Territorial Region (BTR), Gossaigaon and Tamulpur seats went to UPPL’s Jiron Basumatary and Jolen Daimary, respectively.

Both Borgohain and Kurmi were Congress stalwarts: Borgohain, a two-time MLA with the Congress, moved to BJP in August while Kurmi, a prominent leader from the tea tribe community and four-time MLA, switched sides in June.

The decisive mandate in all five seats strengthens the BJP’s position in Assam, and pushes the Congress further to the margins.

The grand old party, which had contested in all five seats, suffered a blow with BJP wresting two seats from it. State Congress president Bhupen Borah said he “accepted” the mandate. “It is a foregone conclusion that by-elections are usually won by the ruling party. Naturally, as a political party, we would have been delighted to win the election but we are not dejected simply because we lost. The general public thinks that being on the side of the ruling party would lead to the development of their area and this is only natural,” Borah said.

While no match for the well-oiled BJP machinery yet, Akhil Gogoi-led Raijor Dal candidate, Dhaijya Konwar, who led a sustained grassroots campaign, managed to edge out the Congress and emerge second in the Thowra seat, by securing 27.52 per cent of the the total votes.The Congress secured only 6.65 per cent of total votes in Thowra and 17.3 per cent of total votes in Mariani — both seats were party bastions earlier.

The results increased the BJP’s strength to 62 and UPPL’s to seven in the 126-member Assam Assembly. Its other ally, Asom Gana Parishad, has nine MLAs. The BJP is now two short of the majority mark as the single largest party in the ruling coalition. On the other hand, the Congress has a strength of 27, AIUDF 15, Bodo People’s Front three, the CPI(M) one, along with one Independent.

Meghalaya

The National People’s Party (NPP)-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) emerged victorious in all three Assembly seats in the hill state, managing to push out the Congress from two seats. The NPP wrested Rajabala and Mawryngkneng seats from the Congress, and its ally, the United Democratic Party’s (UDP) Eugeneson Lyngdoh – a well-known national football player – won in the Mawphlang seat. Lyngdoh decided to leave football to join politics after his father, SK Sunn, who represented Mawphlang, succumbed to Covid in September.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma thanked the people for the mandate. “This has been a very tough by-election for us because the two (Rajabala and Mawryngkneng) seats the NPP won, has been traditionally won by the Opposition (Congress). In both the seats, the NPP used to come third or fourth in rank,” he said.

He added that the fact that the Congress not been able to win a single seat in the other states in Northeast was a “strong indication” of the kind of the problems the party was facing and their “bleak future”.

Mizoram

Tuirial, the sole Mizoram seat that went to bypolls, saw the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF)’s candidate emerge victorious.

MNF candidate K Laldawngliana defeated his nearest opponent Laltlanmawia of the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) by a margin of 1,284 votes.