BJP wins autonomous council elections in Assam, winning 27 of 28 seats
The BJP has won the 13th North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC) elections in Assam, winning 25 of the 28 seats.
Assam: The BJP has won the 13th North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC) elections in Assam, winning 25 of the 28 seats. Two of the three independent candidates who won seats are rebel BJP candidates. The results of the polls were announced late on Friday evening. Ahead of the elections, the BJP candidates won six of the council's 28 seats without any opposition. The remaining 22 seats were put to the vote on January 8. According to representatives of the State Election Commission, about 70 percent of the 1,41,124 voters had cast their votes.
In the 2019 autonomous council elections, Congress had secured two seats. This time, however, none of the party candidates prevailed. In this year's autonomous council elections, candidates from the Trinamool Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), the BJP's ally in the Assam Assembly, were defeated.
TMC accuses BJP
Despite the peaceful conduct of the elections, the Trinamool Congress alleged that the BJP was preventing voters from exercising their franchise. Debolal Garlosa was tipped by the BJP as the Chief Executive Member (CEM) of the autonomous council.
The saffron camp had also fielded some surrendered insurgents. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had claimed responsibility for highlighting the militants during the campaign and assured that those who had turned themselves in would be given training to develop skills to help them find employment. According to Garlosa, the BJP's campaigns were heavily influenced by the ways in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policies had improved the lives of those living in their council.
Himanta played a key role
“Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was also one of the key factors in our victory, besides Modi Ji's development programmes. He guided us in every scenario and all major plans are executed under his leadership,” said Garlosa.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress leader Sushmita Dev had said during the elections that her party hoped to win some seats and take the leading position from the opposition in the autonomous council. After the results, she said that they were satisfied with the votes they received and that this is a new start. “We see this as a positive development. We will continue to fight for the residents of the NC Hills Autonomous Council in the coming years as we have received a significant number of votes,” she told IANS. “We are in second place in eight out of eleven seats, and the Congress Party is in second place in only one out of twenty-two seats. This shows our superior strength against the Congress in Dima Hasao.”
(IANS)