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With counting of votes for Assam’s panchayat elections continuing to take place through the day on Monday without being completed, it became clear by the evening that the ruling BJP and its allies were heading towards a clean sweep.
While the counting of the paper ballots for panchayat polls across 27 districts of the state started on Sunday morning and continued through the day on Monday, by 8:00 pm on Sunday, the state election commission had published the results of just 430 of 2,192 anchalik panchayat seats.
Of these, 273 were won by the BJP and 57 by its ally, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP). The Congress cornered 60 of these seats, while the other opposition parties, AIUDF and Raijor Dal, won eight and four, respectively. Independents won 28 of these seats.
The leads by the ruling party are particularly commanding in the Eastern and Northern Assam districts. For example, out of 86 seats for which results were published for Jorhat district — where Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi is also the Lok Sabha MP — the BJP has won 73 and the AGP has won 9, while the Congress has only managed 3. Of 45 such seats in Golaghat district, the BJP has won 32 and the AGP 8, while the Congress again has won just 3.
Far fewer results were finalised of 397 zila parishad members. Results were published for 47 seats of which 36 and 7 were cornered by the BJP and AGP, respectively. The Congress won only 1 and 3 were won by Independents. All candidates for 21,920 gram panchayat members contested as independents and were not officially contesting on any party ticket.
The outcome of these panchayat polls will be read in the light of the Assam Assembly election which will be held next year. As celebrations broke out among the BJP members across the state, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that the party would perform “even better” in the Assembly election.
“In the panchayat election, it is the village. The BJP is even stronger in cities. So when urban results come together with village results, this result will get even better… Today I think the potential of the BJP is to win 104 seats [out of 126 assembly seats]. But there is always a gap between potential and reality… I think there is a very strong possibility of winning around 95,” he said.
Assam BJP president Dilip Saikia said in a statement that the outcome is heading towards “near-opposition-free Panchayats.”
“This massive mandate was earned due to the BJP government’s commitment to comprehensive rural development by focusing on the welfare of the last person in the society and implementing policies,” he said.
Conceding defeat, former Congress MP R P Sharma alleged “misuse of government machinery” by the BJP during the course of the campaign.
