GUWAHATI, May 16 � Riding on a countrywide wave in favour of Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party won seven of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam, while the ruling Congress slumped to its worst ever performance in the state, winning only three seats. The Bodoland People�s Front (BPF), an ally of the Congress also failed to retain its Kokrajhar seat despite fielding State Transport Minister Chandan Brahma, as he finished a poor third. The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) increased its tally from one in 2009 to three.
The BJP, which won four seats in the 2009 elections by fighting the polls in alliance with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), managed to increase its tally to seven this time despite fighting the polls alone as the State unit of the party was opposed to coming into an alliance with the AGP. The BJP managed to retain three of its existing seats, while adding four others to its tally. But senior leader of the party, Kabindra Purkayastha lost the polls in Silchar constituency to Sushmita Dev of the Congress.
It is the worst ever performance of the Congress in Assam and even the two Central Ministers Paban Singh Ghatowar and Ranee Narah had to bite the dust. The previous worst for the Congress was in 1985 as it faced a strong pro-Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) wave immediately after the signing of the Assam Accord and that year, the party managed to win only four seats.
The AGP failed to open its account in the polls and in none of the constituencies, the candidates of the party managed to come even second.
In the prestigious Guwahati constituency, sitting MP Bijoya Chakraborty of the BJP defeated her nearest rival Manas Bora of the Congress by a margin of 3,15,724 votes. Chakraborty got 7,54,904 votes, while Bora received 4,49,180 votes. Gopinath Das of the AIUDF came third, while AGP�s Birendra Prasad Baishya finished fourth. Popular actor Biju Phukan, who contested as a candidate of the Trinamool Congress, came sixth. Interestingly more than 6,700 voters of the constituency opted for NOTA (None of the above) option.
BJP State unit chief Sarbananda Sonowal was elected to the Lok Sabha defeating Central Minister Ranee Narah of the Congress by a margin of more than three lakh votes from Lakhimpur constituency. Another central minister Paban Sigh Ghatowar of the Congress, was defeated by Rameswar Teli of the BJP by a margin of 1,85,347 votes in Dibrugarh constituency. Another senior leader of the Congress and former Union Minister Bijoy Krishna Handique also tasted defeat in Jorhat constituency as he was defeated by Kamakhya Prasad Tasa of the BJP by a margin of 1,02,420 votes.
In the Autonomous District constituency, senior Congress man Biren Singh Ingty managed to retain his seat defeating Joyram Ingleng of the BJP by a margin of 24,095 votes, while Sushmita Dev, daughter of former Union Minister Santosh Mohan Dev, defeated Kabindra Purkayastha of the BJP by a margin of over 35,000 votes. The third seat of the Congress came in the form of Gaurav Gogoi, son of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who managed to win the Kaliabor constituency by defeating Mrinal Kumar Saikia of the BJP by a margin of 92,026 votes.
In Barpeta constituency, Sirajuddin Ajmal of the AIUDF defeated Chandra Mohan Patowary of the BJP by a margin of 42,341 votes, while AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal was re-elected from Dhubri constituency defeating Wazed Ali Choudhury of the Congress by more than 2.29 lakh votes. The third seat of the AIUDF came in the form of Radheshyam Biswas, who won the Karimganj seat defeating his nearest rival Krishna Das of the BJP by a margin of 1,02,094 votes.
In Kokrajhar constituency, Naba Kumar Sarania ,who was backed by Sanmilita Janagoshthiya Aikya Mancha, defeated UG Brahma of the Bodoland People�s Progressive Front by a margin of more than 3.55 lakh votes. The BPF candidate Chandan Brahma came a poor third.
Ramen Deka of the BJP retained the Mangaldoi seat defeating his nearest rival Kirip Chaliha of the Congress by a margin of 22,884 votes, while Rajen Gohain of the BJP retained his Nagaon seat defeating Jon Jonali Baruah of the Congress by a margin of 1,43,559 votes. The BJP also added Tezpur constituency to its tally as its candidate Ram Prasad Sarma defeated Bhupen Bora of the Congress by a margin of 86,020 votes to get elected to the Lok Sabha.
