panchayat poll: BJP Still Leading

GUWAHATI: On the second day of counting of votes of panchayat poll in the State on Thursday, though the lead by the BJP is crystal clear, yet the Congress is staging a comeback in some districts. The counting, however, is far from being over tonight, and it will continue till Friday.

In some districts the situation is hazy with counting still going on. While the Congress is set to form the Zila Parishad in Jorhat district, the BJP swept clean in Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal’s Assembly segment Majuli by winning all the four zila parishad seats. The BJP is also going to form zila parishads in Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Sonitpur, Morigaon, Kamrup and Golaghat districts. The ruling party is also set to form zila parishad in the districts in the North Bank. The AGP is going to form the Bongaigaon Zila Parishad with the support of the BJP.

Besides leading in Dhubri district where counting is still going on, the Congress has fared well in former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s Titabor and Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia’s Nazira.

While the BJP faced a drubbing in its president Ranjit Kumar Dass’ Sorbhog constituency, the Congress faced humiliation in its president Ripun Bora’s Gohpur constituency. The AGP had to bite the dust in Bokakhat Assembly segment from where party president Atul Bora made it to the Assembly. The AIUDF faced thrashing in Jamunamukh Assembly segment from where Badruddin Ajmal’s son made it to the Assembly.

Significantly, while the voters in tea tribe areas have lent their support to the BJP, religious minorities have shown clear inclination towards the Congress. Meanwhile, talking to the media on Thursday, State Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said: “It has come to light that the AGP had an undeclared alliance with the enemies of Assam. The AGP needs to introspect if it will be with us or with the enemies of Assam. The choice is theirs.”

Reacting to the rural poll results before the media, AGP president Atul Bora said: “We’ve accepted people’s mandate. We’re going to introspect as to why our performance in the poll has not been up to our expectation. I congratulate the BJP for their success.”

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