News Analysis India

Tag: Assam assembly elections

  • Sonowal to be a guide, grateful to PM for support: Himanta Biswa Sarma after being chosen Assam CM-elect

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: Assam chief minister-elect Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday asserted that his predecessor Sarbananda Sonowal “will continue to remain a ‘marg-darshak’ (guide)”.

    Sarma, after being elected unanimously as the leader of the NDA legislature party, said in his address that he was grateful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J P Nadda, Sonowal, and all other party leaders for giving him an opportunity to serve the people of the state, and pledged to carry out his duties with “dedication and honesty”.

    Effusive in his praise for Sonowal, the saffron party leader, who is also the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) convenor, described his tenure as one “unblemished without a single charge of corruption or any other allegation”.

    “He practised politics of values. Sonowal is a leader with a foresight, someone who had the vision of uniting the people of ‘Barak-Brahmaputra-plains-hills’ while ensuring no section of the society was left behind.

    He was our leader and will remain so as our ‘marg-darshak’.

    “He had immense faith in me and gave me important portfolios. He inspired me to serve the people well. I promise to follow the path that he has shown us in the last five years,” the CM-designate said.

    ALSO READ | Himanta Biswa Sarma: Chief architect of BJP’s success in Northeast

    Sarma also expressed his gratitude to the prime minister for “prioritising North East since 2014, ushering in development in the region, facilitating connectivity through rail, road, air, information and technology”.

    The CM-elect thanked Modi for visiting the state’s “nooks and corners” during elections to hold campaigns not just for the BJP candidates but also nominees of its alliance partners — the AGP and the UPPL.

    “We are particularly grateful to the PM for giving due respect and recognition to our ‘gamosa’. Even when he was administered the vaccine, he had it around his neck.

    This love of his for the ‘gamosa’ fills every Assamese heart, including mine, with immense pride,” he stated.

    The NEDA convenor further said that Shah and Nadda have also “given us the strength and determination to march towards our goal, and for this we shall be indebted to them”.

    “It was due to the Union home minister’s meticulous planning that peace returned to the Bodo and the Karbi areas, bringing along with it new hopes for the tribal communities,” he underlined.

    “History has been created by the BJP and its allies as it is the first non-Congress government to be retain power for the second successive term in the state,” Sarma said, congratulating the newly elected MLAs of all three parties of the NDA.

    He urged the legislators to ensure that the poorest of the poor are attended to.

    “We have to dedicate ourselves to the service of the state, to help realise the dream of making Assam one of the top five states in the country,” he added.

    Sarma was elected to the assembly from the Jalukbari assembly constituency for the fifth consecutive term.

  • Assam election results: Anti-CAA activist Akhil Gogoi first in state to win polls from jail

    By PTI
    SIBSAGAR: Jailed anti-CAA activist Akhil Gogoi became the first Assamese to win an election without hitting the campaign trail, as he clinched the Sibsagar constituency, defeating his nearest rival Surabhi Rajkonwari of the BJP by a decisive 11,875 votes.

    The founder of the newly floated Raijor Dal — arrested in December 2019 over sedition charges — bagged 57,219 votes as an Independent, garnering support from 46.06 per cent of the electorate.

    The Congress, which had initially backed the Raijor Dal chief, ended up giving ticket to Subhramitra Gogoi, who came third in the contest.

    The RTI activist, in an attempt to reach out to the people of the state, wrote several open letters from jail, highlighting problems that need to be addressed.

    CLICK HERE TO READ ASSAM ELECTION COVERAGE HIGHLIGHTS

    What might have struck a chord with the electorate was his 85-year-old mother’s efforts to campaign for his imprisoned son along the narrow lanes of Sibsagar, despite the frailties of old age.

    Moved by Priyada Gogoi’s determination, renowned social activists Medha Patkar and Sandeep Pandey flew down to the Upper Assam town and joined the octogenarian in her campaigns.

    Hundreds of youth volunteers of the Raijor Dal also took to door-to-door electioneering to woo voters ahead of the three-phase polls.

    Notwithstanding the entire election machinery of the BJP, which put all its weight behind Rajkonwar as top leaders such as Union Minister Smriti Zubin Irani addressed the people of the constituency, Gogoi, a greenhorn, emerged victorious with absolutely no cash in hand and Rs 60,497 in deposits.

    A graduate from Cotton College in Guwahati, the 46- year-old Raijor Dal chief is not new to electoral politics.

    He had served as general secretary of the Cotton College Students’ Union in 1995-96.

    Over the years, the anti-corruption activist, who also helms the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), had been at the forefront of numerous agitations.

    He had fought for land rights of indigenous people, and led a statewide movement against construction of big dams in the ecologically sensitive regions.

    Dozens of cases have been slapped on him by successive state governments.

    The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested him in December 2019 for his alleged involvement in the violent anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests across the state.

    Political analyst Atiqur Rahman Barbhuiya said Gogoi’s victory will go down in history as the only political prisoner to have set such a precedent after former union minister George Fernandes, who won the 1977 Lok Sabha election by over three lakh votes from a jail in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur.

    “Gogoi won because he identified with the indigenous sentiments. People considered him as his spokesperson,” Rahman Barbhuiya told PTI.

    Prominent members of the Raijor Dal said they would move the court, seeking arrangements for Gogois participation in the oath-taking ceremony.

  • Team Rahul Gandhi fails to impress before party poll

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  The poor poll show of Congress in Kerala and Assam, managed by Rahul Gandhi and his team, is expected to create some noise ahead of the party’s schedule to elect a new party chief by month-end.

    While there are whispers that the party may further push the elections, citing COVID-19 situation, senior leaders may not stop questioning the party’s abysmal performance.

    The Congress did not have much stake in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, where it won in alliance with the DMK.

    However, Kerala was one state the party was looking at capturing power. The defeat has come as a huge setback for party leader Rahul Gandhi, who is the MP from Wayanad in the state and has also been micro-managing the polls.

    Both Rahul Gandhi and sister Priyanka carried out extensive campaigns in Kerala and Assam. In Assam, the party brought in Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Bhagel and Rahul’s close aide Jitender Singh but there was no local face that could woo the voters.

    In Kerala, the infighting among state unit and differences with central leadership has dented the party as it failed to capitalise upon the anti-incumbency against the Pinarayi Vijayan government.

  • Assam polls: Can Congress stop BJP juggernaut?

    Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: The results of the Assam elections on Sunday will decide if the BJP retains power or a nationally-weakened Congress stages a comeback.

    Assam, in one way, is a vital state for both parties. For the BJP, the state is important not just for the party organisation but also for party ideology – the National Register of Citizens or NRC is its flagship ideological programme.

    For the Congress, which is losing almost everywhere, the return to power will give the party much-needed oxygen. The exit polls have given an edge to the BJP-led ruling coalition which has the regional Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) as components.

    Similarly, 10 parties, led by the Congress, had formed a grand alliance of Opposition ahead of the polls. Its two other key constituents are minority-based All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), which is an estranged ally of the BJP.

    The elections were fought on the planks of development, welfare of state’s tea garden community, Citizenship (Amendment) Act, waiving off the loans of women taken from microfinance institutions, giving jobs to the unemployed, protecting the “satras” (Vaishnavite prayer centres) and the rhinos etc.

    Forty-seven of the state’s 126 seats, which went to first phase elections on March 27, will be decisive for the BJP. In the 2016 polls, the BJP-AGP combine had bagged 35 of them, spread across five Parliamentary constituencies of Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur, Jorhat, Tezpur and Kaliabor in Upper and Northern Assam. They have large numbers of Assamese and tea garden voters.

    ALSO READ | Assam logs record 26 COVID deaths in one day, 3,197 new cases; night curfew extended till May 7

    For long, the tea workers had voted for the Congress until they started shifting allegiance to the BJP in 2014. The BJP initiated several steps for the welfare of the community and also doled out money to keep them in good humour but failed to give them a daily wage of Rs 350 despite a commitment. Raising it from the existing Rs 167 to Rs 365 was one of the five “guarantees” announced by the Congress.

    If the first phase polls were more about the fate of the ruling coalition, particularly BJP and AGP, the stakes were high for the Congress-AIUDF combine in the next two phases across constituencies in the Barak Valley and Central and Lower Assam.

    Bengali Muslims, considered the vote banks of Congress and AIUDF, are in a large majority in a number of the seats. The two parties had come together to thwart the split of anti-BJP votes. In the last elections, their combined vote share was more than that of the winning candidates from the BJP coalition in 14 seats.

    Thirty-nine constituencies went to the second phase polls on April 1. Fifteen of them were in the Bengali-majority Barak Valley where Hindus and Muslims constitute a nearly equal percentage of populations. The BJP had won eight seats, AIUDF four and Congress three in 2016. This time, however, the Congress-AIUDF combine was expected to fare better, thanks to their alliance.

    The Opposition alliance also had an edge over the ruling alliance in the final phase polls held in 40 constituencies of Lower Assam on April 6. In 2016, BJP and Congress had won 11 seats each, AIUDF six, BPF eight and AGP four.

    One factor that could possibly harm the BJP was its decision to sever ties with the BPF and align with the UPPL in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR). The BPF had won all 12 seats in the BTR in 2016.

    The BJP will also suffer somewhat due to the birth of two regional entities – Asom Jatiya Parishad and Raijor Dal. The perception was that the two new entrants would cause the split of AGP votes, for the options for people believing in regionalism, had widened. A loss for the AGP is a loss for the BJP.

    Meanwhile, both alliances have trashed the exit-poll predictions. According to the BJP’s assessment, the party will bag 70 seats, AGP eight and UPPL five. However, questioning the scientific basis and sample size of exit polls and alleging that they are manipulated, the Congress claimed the Opposition alliance would win at least 75 seats.

  • Re-poll in four polling stations in Assam passes off peacefully

    By Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: Re-polling in four polling stations under three Assembly constituencies in Assam passed off peacefully on Tuesday.

    The re-polling was held at Indira MV School falling under Ratabari seat, Madhya Dhanehari LP School under Sonai constituency and Khothlir LP School and Mualdum LP School under Haflong constituency. 

    The Election Commission had ordered re-polling in these polling stations following irregularities on April 1, the polling day.

    In Ratabari constituency, a polled EVM was retrieved from the car of a BJP MLA who was the party candidate of a neighbouring constituency.

    ALSO READ | Now, spit at your own risk in Assam 

    The polling booth set up in Khothlir LP School, an auxiliary polling station under the Haflong constituency, had 90 eligible voters but 181 votes were cast. 

    The presiding officer and the first polling officer later admitted they had allowed voters, registered at the main polling station at Mouldam LP School, to cast their votes in the auxiliary polling station. 

    In the Madhya Dhanehari LP School polling booth, a firing incident on the polling day had left three people injured. The bodyguards of Deputy Speaker and BJP candidate Aminul Haque Laskar were involved in the incident. 

  • Assam polls: Congress mulling to move candidates on ‘fears of poaching’

    Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: Apprehending poaching by the BJP, the Congress is trying to keep its Assam flocks together ahead of the declaration of Assembly election results on May 2.

    The Congress leaders held a closed-door meeting with party candidates at a hotel on the outskirts of Guwahati on Saturday, so what transpired there was not known.

    The party said one must not read too much into it as only “general discussions” were held on the preparation for the counting day. The meeting comes amidst reports that the Congress has plans to shift the candidates to some hotels in Guwahati, Tezpur, and Kaziranga on April 22 and keep them out of bounds from poachers.

    The three-phase polls, held in March and April, were keenly contested between the BJP-led ruling coalition, which also has Asom Gana Parishad and United People’s Party Liberal, and the Congress-led 10-party grand alliance of Opposition.

    The Congress tried to put up a brave face by exuding confidence that it will get the majority and as such, had no fears about horse-trading.

    ALSO READ | Online census to distinguish Assamese Muslims from migrant Muslims launched 

    “The Mahajot (grand alliance) will get a big majority and its candidates are not going anywhere,” AICC general secretary and in-charge of Assam, Jitendra Singh told journalists ahead of the meeting.

    Given some past incidents, the Congress leadership gave certain directions to party candidates on the preparation for the counting day.

    “We have no trust in the Election Commission. We all know that 171 votes were cast in a booth that had 90 eligible voters. Also, a polled EVM was retrieved from the car of a BJP candidate (who is also an MLA),” Singh said.

    The candidates of Congress ally All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) had returned to the state on Friday night from Rajasthan as the COVID cases were increasing exponentially there.

    Singh said, “They had gone to Rajasthan after a hectic schedule of the election campaign and returned to Assam after offering their prayers at the Ajmer Sharif”.

    An AIUDF candidate said they had a discussion with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot during their stay in that state.

    Earlier, another AIUDF candidate, Aminul Islam had expressed apprehension that the BJP might try to cobble up numbers by indulging in horse-trading after the declaration of election results. He had pointed out the party had adopted this tactic in several states, including Meghalaya, Manipur, and Goa.

  • 5 poll officials suspended after 181 votes cast in Assam booth that has 90 voters 

    Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: Five polling personnel were suspended in Assam after it emerged that 181 votes were cast in a booth that had 90 eligible voters.The incident was reported from the 107(A) Khothlir Lower Primary School polling booth in the Haflong Assembly segment. The Dima Hasao District Election Officer ordered a re-poll in the booth.It was an auxiliary polling station of the main voting centre at Mouldam Lower Primary School. The incident came to the fore on April 4, two days after polling was held in the booth.Some villagers had reportedly come with their own list of voters and refused to accept the official voters’ list. The constituency had recorded 74% voting as against the statewide average of 80.96%.Assam’s Chief Electoral Officer, Nitin Khade said during scrutiny, it was found that the presiding officer and the polling officers had allowed 181 persons to cast their votes.“The presiding and the first polling officers in their statements have admitted that they allowed the voters registered against the main polling station to cast their votes in the auxiliary polling station,” Khade said.He said taking note of the lapse, the District Election Officer suspended the sector officer, the presiding officer, and three other polling officers.“The auxiliary polling station…has been created for the first time to facilitate the voters in the remote area as the polling percentage in the last Parliamentary election was only 34,” Khade added.

  • Campaigning for last phase of Assam polls ends

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: Campaigning for the third and last phase of the Assam assembly elections ended on Sunday.

    The fate of 337 candidates, including NEDA convenor and state minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, will be sealed in EVMs in 40 constituencies on April 6.

    An array of national leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress’s Rahul Gandhi campaigned for their respective alliance candidates.

    The seats, spread across 12 districts including three in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), witnessed last- minute canvassing by candidates, including 25 women, before the end of campaigning.

    Modi, who had campaigned in all three phases, addressed two rallies at Kokrajhar and Tamulpur, both in BTR, and highlighted the signing of the Bodo Accord and development initiatives of the BJP.

    Union Home Minister Amit Shah, another star campaigner for the BJP, addressed a series of election rallies in Lower Assam constituencies.

    He was scheduled to address three rallies on the last day of campaigning but had to cut short his visit to Assam and returned to New Delhi following the Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh.

    BJP chief J P Nadda, Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Narendra Tomar, Jitendra Singh, Smriti Irani, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Anurag Thakur, and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also campaigned for the party.

    Rahul Gandhi visited the Kamkhaya Temple and addressed rallies at Chaygaon and Barkhetri seats, while his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was also scheduled to campaign in three constituencies in Lower Assam but had to cancel the plan after coming in contact with a COVID-19 infected person.

    Rajya Sabha MPs Mallikarjun Kharge, Dr Nasir Hussain and Dr Akhilesh Prasad Singh, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, his Chhattisgarh counterpart Bhupesh Baghel, former chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, Kamal Nath and Ashok Chavan respectively, and AICC leader Randeep Singh Surjewala campaigned for the ‘Grand Alliance’ candidates.

    ‘Mahajoth’ or ‘Grand Alliance’ comprises Congress, AIUDF, Bodoland Peoples’ Front (BPF), CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML) Liberation, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Anchalik Gana Morcha (AGM).

    AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal, the BJP’s prime target in this election, carried out hectic campaigning for his party candidates along with those of his alliance partners.

    The Assam BJP’s campaign trail was led by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, state unit chief Ranjeet Kumar Dass, NEDA convenor Himanta Biswa Sarma, who has so far addressed the highest number of election rallies, and other ministers of the outgoing assembly.

    Sarma was barred by the Election Commission from campaigning for 48 hours from April 2 for allegedly making threatening remarks against BPF chief Hagrama Mohilary but he appealed for a review and subsequently, it was reduced to 24 hours.

    State Congress unit chief Ripun Bora, Lok Sabha MPs Pradyut Bordoloi, Gaurav Gogoi and Abdul Khaleque led the party’s campaign along with AICC Assam in-charge Jitendra Singh.

    The BJP attacked Ajmal by accusing him of encouraging illegal immigration from Bangladesh, leading to “land and love Jihad”.

    The saffron party promised to tackle these issues by bringing in a legislation.

    The saffron party, besides speaking about development initiatives taken by the “double-engine government”, also attacked the Congress for aligning with the AIUDF.

    The Congress, on the other hand, focussed its campaign on the ‘five guarantees’ of not implementing CAA, providing government jobs to five lakh youths, 200 units of free power, raising daily wages of tea garden workers to Rs 365 and giving a monthly allowance of Rs 2,000 to homemakers.

    To reach out to the electors, several contestants played Holi and danced to the tunes of Bihu songs, as the state’s most important festival ‘Rongali Bihu’ is just a fortnight away.

    Apart from Sarma, other important candidates in the fray are Chandra Mohan Patowary (Dharampur), Siddhartha Bhattacharya (Gauhati East), Asom Gana Parishad’s Phanibhushan Choudhury (Bongaigaon), BJP state chief Ranjeet Kumar Dass (Patacharkuchi), Pramila Rani Brahma (Kokrajhar-East) and Kokrajhar MP Naba Sarania (Barama).

    The fate of 20 sitting MLAs, including eight from the Congress, five from the BJP, three each from the AIUDF and BPF and one from AGP, will be decided in the final phase.

    Singer Kalpana Patowary is contesting on an AGP ticket from Sarukhetri, while journalists Manjit Mahanta and Hridyananda Gogoi are locked in a battle in Dispur on Congress and NCP tickets respectively.

    The ruling BJP is contesting 20 constituencies while its allies AGP in 12 and UPPL in eight.

    The Congress is contesting 23 seats while its partners AIUDF in 12, BPF in eight and CPI(M) in one.

    A friendly contest will be witnessed between the AIUDF and Congress in four seats.

    Newly floated Assam Jatiya Parishad is contesting 21 seats.

    A total of 79,19,641 electors, including 40,11,539 males, 39,07,963 females and 139 persons of the third gender are eligible to exercise their franchise.

  • Assam polls: Modi attacks junior Azmal for objectionable comments, says Mahajot has accepted defeat

    Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday slammed the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) over an objectionable comment made by its MLA Abdur Rahim had made.

    Addressing a rally at Tamulpur, Modi said, “The election is underway. I heard some people made some announcements yesterday (Friday). They have accepted that they lost the polls. They have also given a description of the next government — how it will look like and what attire it will wear”.

    “It is shocking that they have come up with a blueprint to grab Assam five years from now. There cannot be a bigger insult to Assam and its culture than this,” he said without taking any name..However, his statement, ostensibly, had reference to the objectionable remarks of Rahim, who is the son of AIUDF chief and MP, Maulana Badruddin Ajmal.

    ALSO READ | Government working sincerely to implement Assam Accord, most problems resolved: PM Narendra Modi

    Modi claimed the people of Assam had realised the “Mahajhoot” (grand lies) of the “Mahajot” (grand alliance). He said the people would not tolerate those who insult Assam’s pride and identity and give them a befitting reply in the polls.

    Supporters during PM Narendra Modi’s rally inAssam’s Baksa district on Saturday | ptiThe Congress has formed a ten-party grand alliance of the Opposition to oust the ruling BJP from power. All throughout its poll campaign, the BJP is targeting the grand old party and the AIUDF. The BJP is telling voters that if the alliance grabs power, Ajmal will become the chief minister of Assam. He is seen by many as a sympathizer of illegal immigrants.

    Meanwhile, midway through his speech, Modi had halted briefly to direct the doctors accompanying him to attend to a person in the crowd who fainted.

    “Pausing in the middle of his speech at Tamulpur in Assam, PM @narendramodi promptly directed the team of PMO doctors to give immediate assistance to an old-aged person, Shri Hari Charan Das, in the rally who was apparently dehydrated. He has been attended to and is stable now,” the BJP tweeted.

    The third and final phase Assam polls will be held on April 6.

  • AIUDF to support Congress CM in Assam: Badruddin Ajmal

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal on Saturday said the party will support a leader from the Congress as the next chief minister of Assam if the ‘Grand Alliance’ is voted to power.

    The ruling BJP has been aggressively campaigning that the ongoing Assembly polls in Assam is a “clash of civilisation” and to prevent Ajmal from becoming the chief minister of the state.

    “AIUDF is committed to supporting a Congress CM in the state after 2 May (sic).

    Congress Mahajot govt, an alliance of Ten parties, will work equally for all regions & communities of Assam without fear or favour,” Ajmal tweeted.

    The only agenda of the ‘Mahajot’ or ‘Grand Alliance’ government is to implement the “Five Guarantees” of the Congress which was annnounced during campaigning.

    The Congress has formed the ‘Grand Alliance’ with AIUDF, BPF, CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), Anchalik Gana Morcha (AGM), RJD, Adivasi National Party (ANP) and Jimochayan (Deori) Peoples Party (JPP) to fight the assembly election in Assam against the BJP-led NDA.

    The ‘Grand Alliance’ has “guaranteed” that if it is voted to power, then a law will be introduced to nullify the CAA, provide five lakh government jobs, 200 units of free electricity to all households, Rs 2000 per month for housewives and raise minimum wages of tea garden workers to Rs 365.