Congress achieves a hat-trick in Assam

Friday May 13, 2011 03:26:33 PM, V. IANS

Guwahati: The Congress is all set to form the government in Assam for the third straight term with the main opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reduced to smithereens with even their respective party presidents losing the polls.

Of the 21 of 126 constituencies for which results were declared so far, the Congress had won 17 seats and the AGP, the BJP, Asom United Democratic Front (AUDF) and the Bodoland People's Party (BPF) had one seat each.

According to trends available till Friday afternoon in the remaining 105 seats, the Congress is leading in 70, the AGP 8, BJP 4, AUDF 14 and BPF in 9 seats.

Among the prominent losers include AGP president Chandra Mohan Patowary and BJP state president Ranjit Dutta - both losing to the Congress.

Patowary lost the Dharmapur seat to first time candidate Jayanta Malla Baruah by more than 5,000 votes, Ranjit Dutta lost to another first timer Pallab Lochan Das by more than 8,000 votes.

Meanwhile, celebrations have begun in the Congress party camp with trends indicating of a massive win.

"The trends are on expected lines and as I said earlier, we are forming the next government comfortably. People of Assam voted us based on our performance in the past 10 years," Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told IANS.

"We were able to bring in peace to the state and all round economic development and so people voted us back to power."

The opposition AGP and the BJP have already accepted defeat.

"We must respect the mandate of the people," a senior AGP leader said.

"We don't know yet the final tally, but Congress must have done well based on votes of Bangladeshi Muslims," BJP MP Bijoya Chakraborty said.



 

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Picture of the Day

Vice President Mohd. Hamid Ansari addresses after releasing the special issue of “Think India” quarterly on Faiz Ahmad Faiz, in New Delhi on May 10, 2011. Also seen in the picture is Member Planning Commission Dr Syeda Hameed among others.

(Photo: Hansraj)