Guwahati, (Samajweekly) The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday retained the Majuli Assembly constituency in eastern Assam as its candidate Bhuban Gam won the seat defeating his nearest rival Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) nominee Chittaranjan Basumatary by a record margin of 42,141 votes, election officials said.
According to the Election Commission’s declaration, Gam secured 67,242 votes (69.86 per cent) against 25,101 votes (26.08 per cent) bagged by Basumatary and 2,265 votes (2.35 per cent) by Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) candidate Bhaity Richong.
As per the alliance with the AJP, the Congress and other opposition parties were supporting the Majuli AJP candidate.
As many as 1,642 votes (1.71 per cent) were registered for NOTA.
Nearly 72 per cent of the 1,33,227 voters had cast their votes in the by-election to the politically significant Majuli Assembly constituency in eastern Assam on Monday.
The by-election was necessitated after former Assam Chief Minister and Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who won the seat during the 2021 Assembly elections, resigned and was elected to the Rajya Sabha in September 2021 paving the way for Himanta Biswa Sarma to become the state Chief Minister.
With the win in the Majuli seat, the BJP’s strength in the 126-member Assembly increased to 63, still one seat short of the absolute majority number of 64.
However, BJP’s old ally Asom Gana Parishad has nine members and another alliance partner United People’s Party Liberal has seven MLAs.
Among the opposition parties, Congress has 27 MLAs, followed by All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) with 15, Bodoland People’s Front three, while Communist Party of India-Marxist and Raijor Dal have one seat each.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma thanking the people of Majuli tweeted, “Thank you Majuli for reposing your faith on us (BJP government). The massive win of BJP candidate Bhuban Gam in the bypoll to Majuli Legislative Assembly Council reflects people’s trust on Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji’s agenda of growth and his vision of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas”.”
