Guwahati, 4 Jun: The BJP-led NDA on Tuesday swept the Lok Sabha elections in Assam bagging 11 of the 14 seats while Congress bagged three, election officials said.
The BJP retained nine seats, the same as in the 2019 polls, while its allies the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) made a debut in the Kokrajhar (ST) seat and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) emerged victorious in Barpeta.
”I bow down to the people of Assam for blessing @BJP4Assam and our valued NDA partners with a massive mandate of 11 out of 14 seats in the state”, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma posted on ‘X’.
The NDA has also bettered its overall vote share to nearly 46 per cent, a huge jump from 39 per cent ”we secured in the 2019 Lok Sabha and 44 per cent in the 2021 assembly elections”, he said.
”This we have achieved despite the 40 per cent minority population in the state. This translates to a lead for the NDA in more than 90 of 126 assembly segments, a much-improved outcome compared to our performance in the 2021 Assembly elections”, he said.
Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal defeated the united opposition candidate Lurinjyoti Gogoi by a margin of 2,79,321 votes in the Dibrugarh constituency.
In a major upset, Congress MLA Rakibul Hussain defeated AIUDF supremo and three-time sitting MP Badruddin Ajmal by a record margin of 10,12,476 votes in the Dhubri seat.
“It is a big blow. It will take some time to analyse what went wrong. We will find out what happened to the people, because these same people made me MP for three consecutive terms,” Ajmal said.
Assam Minister for Excise, Fisheries and Transport Parimal Suklabaidya defeated his Congress opponent Surya Kanta Sarkar by a margin of 2,64,311 votes in the Silchar (SC) constituency.
In Karimganj, BJP’s Kripanath Malla retained the seat by defeating senior Congress leader and prominent advocate Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury by 18,360 votes.
In Jorhat, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi defeated sitting BJP MP Topon Gogoi by a margin of 1,44,393.
In Nagaon, sitting Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi retained his seat for the second consecutive term by defeating his erstwhile confidante Suresh Bora of the BJP by 2,12,231 votes.
In the Guwahati constituency, BJP’s Bijuli Kalita Medhi defeated her nearest Congress rival Mira Borthakur Goswami by a margin of 2,51,090 votes.
In Darrang-Udalguri, sitting BJP MP Dilip Saikia retained the seat, which was renamed from the erstwhile Mangaldoi, by defeating veteran Congress leader Madhab Rajbongshi by 3,29,012 votes.
In Kokrajhar (ST), UPPL made its debut in the Lok Sabha when its candidate Joyanta Basumatary defeated BPF’s Kampa Borgoyari by 51,583 votes.
In Kaziranga, Rajya Sabha MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa of BJP defeated his Congress rival Roselina Tirkey by 2,48,947 votes. (PTI)
In Sonitpur, BJP MLA Ranjit Dutta defeated his Congress rival Premlal Ganju by 3,61,408 votes.
In Lakhimpur, sitting BJP MP Pradan Barua defeated his Congress opponent by 2,01,257 votes.
In Diphu (ST) constituency, BJP’s Amarsing Tisso defeated independent candidate J I Kathar by a margin of 1,47,803 votes.
AGP MLA Phani Bhushan Choudhury won the Barpeta parliamentary constituency defeating Congress rival Deep Bayan by a margin of 2,22,351 seats.
In the outgoing Lok Sabha, BJP held nine seats, Congress three, AIUDF and an independent one each from the state.
Elections to the 14 parliamentary seats were held in three phases on April 19, April 26 and May 7 with 81.56 per cent of the total 2.45 crore eligible electorate exercising their franchise. (PTI)