 "BJP workers celebrate party victory in Assam 2016 polls")
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today scripted history in Assam by winning the assembly election for the first time in the state. BJP’s win has brought an end to the 15 year-long Tarun Gogoi-led Congress rule in this north-eastern state of Assam.
Plainly, the rise of BJP in the state has been meteoric. From just five seats in last assembly election in 2011, the party almost managed to touch the halfway mark in 2016. The four-party coalition that BJP is heading has together garnered almost two-thirds majority in 126-member Assam assembly. BJP singularly won 60 seats and its coalition partners, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), won 14 and 12 seats respectively.
“BJP will do everything possible to fulfil the dreams and expectations of the people of Assam and take the state’s development journey to new heights,” twitted Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The vote share of the BJP-led coalition was around 43 per cent and BJP’s vote share singularly was 29.5 per cent. “People wanted overall development of the state and protection of their identity. For this greater cause they supported the BJP-led coalition to form the government,” said BJP’s chief minister-elect Sarbananda Sonowal. He won the Majuli seat by a difference of 19,000 votes.
The biggest loser in Assam has been the Congress party. From 78 seats in 2011, the tally came down sharply to 26 this time. The party witnessed almost a complete wipe out in Upper Assam. Many of its heavyweight leaders and incumbent ministers failed to register wins.
“Yes, I am sad but there is no reason for me to be devastated. People wanted us to play the role of an effective opposition and we will try to do that,” said the outgoing chief minister Tarun Gogoi who managed to win from Upper Assam’s Titabor constituency.
Maulana Badruddin Ajmal-led All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) too performed below expectation, particularly in Muslim-dominated constituencies –- its strongholds. The party managed to win 13 seats, five seats less than its 2011 tally. What caught everyone’s attention was the defeat of AIUDF’s chief Ajmal from South Salmara constituency. South Salmara assembly constituency falls under the Dhubri Lok Sabha constituency from where Ajmal is the incumbent MP.
BJP’s fortunes have been on a rise since the 2014 Lok Sabha election. The party managed to win seven of the 14 seats in Assam then, riding on the ‘Modi wave’. The party also then managed to get the highest vote share of 36 per cent.
In this election, the party had the head-start of entering the election fray by forming a coalition with four parties. Defection in Congress and anti-incumbency against Tarun Gogoi led government too helped the BJP make inroads in Assam.
Just a year ahead of the polls the BJP got a boost when heavyweight Congress leader Himanta Biswa Sarma deserted the party and joined BJP along with a group of disgruntled MLAs. Sarma is a workhorse, a good orator, a strategist and a performer while he was a minister in Gogoi’s cabinet.
Sarma had a prestige fight with Tarun Gogoi in this election and ensuring BJP’s win was must for him. He went on an overdrive during the election phase and many see this win of BJP as result of Sarma’s hard work. He won the Jalukbari seat in Guwahati by a margin of around 89,000 votes.
