Yet again proving that the BJP led alliance in Assam faces no real opposition, the NDA swept the municipal elections in capital city Guwahati. Votes casted in the elections on 22 April were counted today, and NDA has won 58 out of 60 seats in the elections. Main opposition party Congress scored a duck, as the party could not win a single seat in the urban body.
In the 58 seats NDA won by NDA, BJP has won 52 and its partner AGP (Asom Gana Parishad’ won the rest 6 seats. BJP won 49 seats in today’s counting, as it has already won 3 wards unopposed.
The rest two seats were grabbed by Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). EVMs were used for the first time in the civic body elections. BJP president Bhabesh Kalita announced that mayor and deputy mayor will be elected after 3 days.
Not only Congress didn’t win a single seat, it was also not in the second position in most of the seats. The party remained in third spot in most of the wards, while AAP has emerged as the main opposition party at the Guwahati Municipal Corpiration. AAP was in second position in more than 20 wards, indicating that Congress votes were transferred to AAP.
AAP candidate Masuma Begum won form the ward no 42 in Guwahati, marking a major win for the party which has set up its organisation in the state recently. It is notable that the area covered by ward no 42 is minority dominated.
Our candidate for GMC's ward no 42, Masuma Begum wins to help @AamAadmiParty make its debut in the #GMCElections2022. Counting for other wards still on process.
— AAP Assam (@AAP4Assam) April 24, 2022
Congratulations to Masuma.🙏 @ArvindKejriwal pic.twitter.com/aTJ2A3HYW5
The other non-NDA candidate to win is the AJP candidate Hukum Chand Ali Bakshi, who won from ward no 1.
BJP leaders alleged that AJP and AAP won the two wards by playing communal politics, as both wards dominated by minorities. They also conceded that the demography of the two wards is not favourable for BJP.
Prime minister Narendra Modi thanked the citizens of Guwahati for their votes to the BJP-AGP alliance. “Thank you Guwahati! The people of this lovely city have given a resounding mandate to BJP to build on the agenda of development”, he tweeted.
Thank you Guwahati! The people of this lovely city have given a resounding mandate to @BJP4Assam to build on the agenda of development. They have also blessed the hardwork of the state government under CM @himantabiswa. My gratitude to every BJP Karyakarta for the hardwork.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 24, 2022
“I bow my head to the people of Guwahati for giving BJP & its allies a historic win in GMC Elections,” tweeted chief minister Himanta Biswa Sharma.
I bow my head to the people of Guwahati for giving @BJP4Assam & its allies a historic win in #GMCElections.
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) April 24, 2022
With this massive mandate, people have reaffirmed their faith on our development journey under the guidance of Adarniya PM Shri @narendramodi ji.@JPNadda @BJP4India pic.twitter.com/AWZ5mqIhc3
The debacle of the Congress party marks the continued defeats the party is facing. Not just Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, the party is also badly losing local body polls, and also could not unite the opposition to win a Rajya Sabha election. Just 2 days ago, Pradesh Congress president Bhupen Borah had claimed that his party will win, and the party was discussing the selection of mayor and deputy mayor. But today, the party didn’t win a single seat.
In the municipal elections held in 80 towns last month, BJP led NDA had won 73 municipal bodies in Assam. In those elections too, Congress didn’t win a single civic body.
