Congress, Allies Draw A Blank In Northeast Bypolls As BJP-Led NEDA Scores Big

The BJP-led NEDA swept the Northeast bypolls, winning all seats in Assam, Sikkim, and Meghalaya. This prevented the Congress and its allies from securing any seat, including the Behali seat in Assam.

The BJP and its allies in the Northeast have won all the seats in the bypolls.

Source : PTI

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) caused a major upset for the Congress and its allies in the Northeast, preventing them from winning even a single seat in the bypolls. Eight seats in the Northeast went to the recently concluded bypolls. Among them were 5 in Assam, 2 in Sikkim, and 1 in Meghalaya. The BJP and its allies won all 8 seats in the three states.

In Assam, the BJP won the Dholai, Behali, and Samaguri seats and its allies Asom Gana Parishad and United People's Party won the Bongaigaon and Sidli seats respectively. Meghalaya's only seat that went to bypolls, Gambegre, was secured by the National People's Party. The two seats in Sikkim, Soreng-Chakung and Namchi-Singhithang, were won by the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha. 

Among all the seats, the most contentious for the Opposition was the Behali seat in Assam. The disagreement among the Opposition parties over the selection of a candidate for this seat led to the resignation of Assam Congress president Bhupen Borah as the chief of the Assam Opposition Forum.

BJP secured a victory in the Behali assembly constituency during the Assam bypolls, with its candidate Diganta Ghatowal defeating Congress opponent Jayanta Bora by a margin of 9,051 votes, according to official results announced on Saturday.

Ghatowal garnered 50,947 votes, while Bora managed to obtain 41,896. Four candidates vied for the seat, including Lakhikanta Kurmi of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation and Ananta Gogoi from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), both of whom failed to save their deposits.

The Behali constituency was previously represented by Ranjit Dutta, who vacated the seat after being elected to the Lok Sabha from Tezpur earlier this year.

The bypolls were conducted in five constituencies due to vacancies created when sitting MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha earlier this year.