NDA bags 10 seats in all North-eastern States
Riding high on Modi wave, the BJP on Friday upped its tally in almost all the northeastern States and the party swept the polls in Assam by securing seven out of the total 14 lok Sabha seats in the State.
While the BJP has secured seven seats in Assam, it could manage to secure one of the two lok Sabha seats in Arunachal Pradesh — Arunachal Pradesh West. Naga Peoples’ Front (NPF), which is an ally of the NDA led by BJP, secured the lone lok Sabha seat. In Meghalaya, PA Sangma-led National Peoples’ Party (NPP) secured the Tura seat.
The Congress, which is in power in most of the northeastern States except Nagaland and Tripura, had to content itself with two seats in Manipur, the lone seat in Mizoram and one of the two seats in Arunachal Pradesh.
In Tripura also, the Congress was drubbed in both the lok Sabha seats with over four lakh margins. In Assam, the BJP could manage to win Gauhati, Nowgong, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, lakhimpur, Tezpur and Mangaldai constituency. The Congress, however, could manage to win only three seats - Autonomous District (Diphu) constituency, Kaliabor and Silchar.
The AIUDF led by perfume baron Moulana Badaruddin Ajmal also improved its tally this time by winning two more seats. While the party retained Dhubri seat, it won Karimganj and Barpeta lok Sabha seats from the Congress.
Kokrajhar seat, which used to be held by the Bodoland Peoples' Front (BPF) led by Hagrama Mohilary was snatched by Independent candidate Naba Kumar Sarania, who was backed by the non-Bodos living in Bodoland Territorial Areas Districts (BTAD).
The BJP had polled over 36 per cent of votes in Assam, while the Congress could poll only 29.5 per cent of votes. AIUDF polled nearly 15 per cent votes followed by 10.4 per cent by the Independent candidates and only 3.9 per cent of votes by Assam's most prominent regional political party Asom Gana Parishad (AGP). A total of one per cent electorates in Assam, however, pressed NOTA in the lok Sabha polls, the statistics of the Election Commission of India (ECI) said.
President of the Assam unit of the BJP, Sarbananda Sonowal said that the people of Assam, like the people in other parts of the country, wanted a change this time under the leadership of BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
"People were frustrated due to the misrule of the Congress and chose to vote for the BJP," said Sonowal, while thanking the people of Assam, the BJP candidates and the party workers across the State.
He also said that this is for the first time in Assam that the saffron party had scored over 35 per cent of votes. The BJP had not been able to poll more than 12 per cent of votes in earlier elections, he added.
Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi accepted the defeat and took full responsibility for the debacle. "We are going to accept the mandate. I take full responsibility and I am going to tender my resignation to the AICC chairperson," said Gogoi.
Gogoi had earlier announced that he would resign if the party fails to secure at least seven seats in the lok Sabha polls.
Winners & losers
Sarbananda Sonowal (BJP): Defeated Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Ranee Narah in lakhimpur constituency
Rameswar Teli (BJP): Defeated Union DONER Minister Paban Singh Ghatowar in Dibrugarh Constituency.
Kamakhya Prasad Tasa (BJP): Defeated former Union Minister Bijoy Krishna Handique in Jorhat
RP Sharma (BJP): Defeated Congress MlA from Bihpuria assembly constituency Bhupen Bora.
Gourav Gogoi (Congress): Son of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and a debutant in politics, defeated BJP's Manoj Saikia in Kaliabor
Sushmita Deb (Congress): Defeated BJP's veteran Kabindra Purakayastha in Silchar constituency
Sirajuddin Ajmal (AIUDF): Defeated Congress veteran and sitting MP Ismail Hussain in Barpeta
Radheshyam Biswas (AIUDF): Defeated Congress' lalit Mohan Shuklabaidya in Karimganj
Naba Kumar Sarania (Independent): Defeated sitting MP Sanchuma Khungur Bwismutiary (Independent) and state Transport Minister Chandan Brahma (BPF) in Kokrajhar.