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Malegaon/Guwahati:
The BJP/AGP alliance in Assam
has not just lost the state assembly elections. But, hit hard by
the Congress tsunami that routed the opposition alliance, it has
also lost the place as the main opposition group. The place now is
all set to go to comparatively naive Asom United Democratic Front
(AUDF).
It is only the second elections for
the Badruddin Ajmal Qasmi led Asom United Democratic Front (AUDF).
But the party, which had 10 MLAs in the last assembly, looks all
set to double its tally in this elections snatching the place of
the second largest party that was earlier held by the BJP/AGP
combine.
The AUDF would not be the kingmaker
as predicted by the pollsters before the counting while also
predicting a hung assembly in Assam. But as the Congress surprised
everyone by achieving a hat trick and by almost sweeping the
elections, the AUDF performance surprised even the party.
"The results are more than
satisfying for us", AUDF spokesman Burdhanuddin Qasmi said to
ummid.com.
"This is the second time we are
fighting the elections. But despite all odds and dirty propaganda
machine, we are in a position to increase our tally from 10 to
20", he added.
"Moreover", he said, "We have
registered an increase of 4-5% in terms of vote count. This of
course is not a small achievement when BJP/AGP are virtually
routed in the elections and lost the bigwigs and the candidates
who were eying for the chief ministership."
"The election results show that
people have rejected the divisive politics of the BJP/AGP combine
and its harassment policy to target the natives in the name of
illegal migrants", he said.
"We are now all set to emerge as the
second largest party in the state assembly and will play our rule
as a constructive opposition", he said.
Meanwhile, the Congress is all set to form the government in Assam for the
third straight term with the main opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP)
and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reduced to smithereens with
even their respective party presidents losing the polls.
Of the 126 constituencies for which results were declared, the Congress has won 74 seats, Asom
United Democratic Front (AUDF) has won 20 seats and the Bodoland People's Party (BOPF)
has won 13 seats. The AGP/BJP combine which has ruled the state
twice in the past together could win just 16 seats.
Among the prominent losers include AGP president Chandra Mohan
Patowary and BJP state president Ranjit Dutta - both losing to the
Congress.
Patowary lost the Dharmapur seat to first time candidate Jayanta
Malla Baruah by more than 5,000 votes, Ranjit Dutta lost to
another first timer Pallab Lochan Das by more than 8,000 votes.
Meanwhile, celebrations have begun in the Congress party camp.
"We were able to bring in peace to the state and all round
economic development and so people voted us back to power."
The opposition AGP and the BJP have already accepted defeat.
"We must respect the mandate of the people," a senior AGP leader
said.
"We don't know yet the final tally, but Congress must have done
well based on votes of Bangladeshi Muslims," BJP MP Bijoya
Chakraborty said.
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