The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) on Sunday swept elections to the Guwahati municipal corporation by winning 58 of the total 60 wards.
While the BJP bagged 52 seats, the AGP won 6 seats in Guwahati, the biggest city in Assam and the rest of northeast. The party, which is in power in the state, had earlier won municipal board elections held last month.
The opposition Congress, the second biggest party in the state assembly after the BJP, failed to win even a single seat while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) made its debut in Guwahati by winning one seat. Assam Jatiya Party (AJP) also won one seat.
“I bow my head to the people of Guwahati for giving BJP and its allies a historic win in GMC elections. With this massive mandate, people have reaffirmed their faith in our development journey under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted.
Assam BJP chief Bhabesh Kalita said the mandate was a reflection of good work done by the state government under Sarma’s leadership. He assured the party will try and make the city an ideal one with all-round development.
“I admit we have fared poorly in this election. I assume Guwahati residents have given a last chance to the BJP to do something good. The two main problems in Guwahati are artificial floods and scarcity of drinking water, I hope the BJP will be able to address both,” Assam Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah said.
{{/usCountry}}“I admit we have fared poorly in this election. I assume Guwahati residents have given a last chance to the BJP to do something good. The two main problems in Guwahati are artificial floods and scarcity of drinking water, I hope the BJP will be able to address both,” Assam Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah said.
{{/usCountry}}In the municipal corporation polls held after a gap of nine years, the BJP had fielded 53 candidates while the AGP contested in 7 seats. The Congress contested in 55 seats and the AAP in 39 wards.
“We have won one seat and opened our account. It is a big thing for us as people of Guwahati have shown that they value those who work. We had earlier won one ward each in Tinsukia and Lakhimpur municipal polls. This is a good trend for the AAP in Assam,” said the AAP’s state president Bhaben Choudhury.
The election to GMC was last held in 2013 in which the Congress had won 19 of the total 31 wards. The BJP candidates bagged 11 wards, and one was won by AGP.
This time, the number of total wards was increased to 60 and 50% of them was reserved for women candidates. A total of 200 candidates were in the fray for the 60 wards. Three candidates from the BJP (Wards 5, 6 and 22) had won uncontested.
The BJP had swept the municipal board polls held in March by winning 759 of the total 977 wards. The party and its allies were able to wrest power in 75 of the total 80 municipal boards, which went to polls.