GUWAHATI, May 23: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) registered its highest-ever tally in Assam by winning nine out of 14 Lok Sabha seats on the back of the �Modi undercurrent�, which swept the entire country.
The ruling party, which fought the election on the issues of development and the face value of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was successful in beating off issues like the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill-2016 as well as charges of non-performance and perceived anti-incumbency.
The BJP this time bagged two seats more than what it had managed to win in 2014, when the party had secured seven parliamentary constituencies riding on the �Modi wave� which was palpably visible at that time.
The final tally in Assam stands at nine seats for the BJP, three for the Congress and one seat each going to the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and to an Independent candidate.
While the counting of votes in the EVMs have been completed, however, as the VVPAT slips are being cross verified with the EVM results in five booths of each constituency, the Election Commission has officially declared the results of only three out of the 14 constituencies of Assam officially till the time of filing this report at 12 midnight. But the trends were clear.
With the BJP registering its best-ever performance both at the national level as well as in Assam, the Lok Sabha poll witnessed some major upsets with heavyweights getting trounced.
Among the most prominent losers from Assam is Sushmita Dev of Congress, who lost to Dr Rajdeep Roy of the BJP in Silchar constituency.
In addition, sitting AIUDF MP from Karimganj Radheshyam Biswas also lost the polls to BJP nominee and Deputy Speaker of the Assam Legislative Assembly Kripanath Mallah.
Similarly, veteran Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Bhubaneswar Kalita faced defeat at Mangaldai in the hands of young BJP leader Dilip Saikia.
Another veteran Congress leader Paban Singh Ghatowar also had to bite the dust from Dibrugarh. He was defeated by BJP�s Rameswar Teli. This is the second consecutive time when Ghatowar has been defeated by Teli in the constituency.
Former Additional Chief Secretary MGVK Bhanu was defeated by State Minister Pallab Lochan Das in Tezpur.
Veteran Biren Sing Engti of Congress was trounced by Haren Sing Bey of BJP in Diphu.
State Minister and Bodoland People�s Front (BPF) candidate Pramila Rani Brahma lost to Independent candidate Naba Kumar Sarania in Kokrajhar. Sarania has managed to retain the seat, which he had first won in 2014.
The prestigious Guwahati constituency went to the BJP with the ruling party�s Queen Oja winning by a big margin against her nearest Congress rival Bobbeeta Sharma.
By this victory, the BJP created history by becoming the first party ever to win from Guwahati constituency for the third consecutive term.
In the final tally, BJP secured Lakhimpur, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Tezpur, Autonomous District (Diphu), Karimganj, Silchar, Guwahati and the Mangaldai seats.
However, BJP�s allies AGP and BPF drew a blank. AGP lost from Kaliabor, Dhubri and Barpeta, while BPF lost from Kokrajhar.
On the other hand, the main Opposition party Congress failed to capitalise on the issue of CAB as well as what it has termed as the failure of the Narendra Modi government on various fronts, including the economy.
The grand old party could win from only three seats of Assam. The party�s tally this time is the same as in 2014.
Meanwhile, the AIUDF, which had won from three constituencies in 2014 and had contested only from those seats in these elections, faced a virtual wipeout with only party president Badruddin Ajmal managing to retain the Dhubri seat.
Independent candidate and serving MP Sarania won from Kokrajhar constituency for the second consecutive term, beating off a stiff challenge from NDA constituent BPF as well as the United People�s Party Liberal (UPPL).
The BJP, which had dropped five of its seven sitting MPs and fielded new faces in those seats, was able to retain all the constituencies it had secured in 2014, barring one. Only in Nagaon, the Modi undercurrent did not work and the Congress managed to wrest the seat from the BJP.
However, the BJP on its turn wrested the Diphu and Silchar seats from the Congress and Karimganj constituency from the AIUDF.
The Congress managed to retain Kaliabor constituency, while also wresting the Nagaon seat from the BJP and the Barpeta seat from the AIUDF.
AIUDF lost two of the three seats it had won in 2014, while retaining Dhubri. It lost Karimganj to the BJP and Barpeta to the Congress.
As per data from the Election Commission at 12 midnight, results have officially been declared in Dibrugarh , Jorhat and Karimganj constituencies .
BJP�s Teli defeated Congress candidate Ghatowar by over 3.61 lakh votes in Dibrugarh.
In Jorhat, Topon Kumar Gogoi of BJP defeated Congress� Sushanta Borgohain by over 82,000 votes, while in Karimganj BJP�s Mallah defeated AIUDF�s Biswas in Karimganj by over 38,000 votes. However, the results of the other 11 seats have not been declared officially till midnight.
In Lakhimpur, BJP�s Pradan Baruah was leading by over 3.45 lakh votes over his nearest rival Anil Borgohain of the Congress, while in Guwahati constituency BJP�s Oja was ahead of Congress� Sharma by 3.12 lakh votes.
Bey of BJP was ahead of Engti of the Congress by over 2.33 lakh votes in Diphu, while Abdul Khaleque of the Congress led by over 1.10 lakh votes over AGP�s Kumar Deepak Das.
In Dhubri, AIUDF chief Ajmal was leading by over 2.27 lakh votes over his nearest rival Abu Taher Bepari of Congress.
In Kaliabor, Gaurav Gogoi of Congress was ahead of AGP�s Mani Madhav Mahanta by over 2.06 lakh votes.
Independent candidate Sarania was ahead of BPF�s Brahma in Kokrajhar.
In Mangaldai, BJP�s Saikia led by over 1.22 lakh votes against Congress nominee Kalita, while in Nagaon Congress� Pradyut Bordoloi was ahead of BJP�s Rupak Sarmah by over 25,000 votes.
In Silchar, Roy of BJP was leading Dev of Congress by over 80,000 votes, while in Tezpur, BJP�s Das was ahead of Congress� Bhanu by over 2.39 lakh votes.
The Election Commission is expected to declare the results of all seats formally later in the night or tomorrow morning.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the BJP, fighting on its own, had won from seven out of the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies of Assam, while the Congress and the AIUDF had each won three seats, and one seat had gone to an Independent.
BJP had emerged victorious from Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Lakhimpur, Tezpur, Nagaon, Mangaldai and Guwahati constituencies in 2014.
While the Congress had won from Kaliabor, Silchar and Diphu, the AIUDF had secured Karimganj, Dhubri and Barpeta. Kokrajhar constituency had gone to Sarania last time also.
