BJP secures landslide victory in Assam panchayat polls

Guwahati | The BJP on Tuesday registered a landslide victory in Assam rural polls, winning 219 of 397 Zilla Parishad seats and 901 of 2,192 Anchalik Panchayat constituencies, officials said.

According to Assam State Election Commission (ASEC) data, the BJP got 901 members of Anchalik Panchayat (AP) constituencies, while its ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) bagged 147 so far.

The opposition Congress secured 271 seats, while 33 have been won by AIUDF, eight by Raijor Dal, three by Trinamool Congress, two by Assam Jatiya Parishad, one by AAP and 117 by Independents.

In Zilla Parishad (ZP), the BJP won 219 seats along with 23 bagged by its ally AGP. The Congress got 37 seats, while three were won by AIUDF, one by Raijor Dal and 10 by Independents, the ASEC data showed.

The panchayat elections took place on May 2 and 7 in Assam's 27 districts for the first time after the delimitation of the constituencies.

"The counting of votes is now over. Presently, we are compiling the results. However, final numbers from two districts are yet to be received," a senior official of the Assam State Election Commission told PTI.

The counting of votes for both phases of the rural polls began on Sunday at 8 am.

Along with these, all the results for thousands of Gram Panchayat (GP) seats have also been declared. Independent candidates were in the fray for the GP seats as no one was allowed to contest on party tickets.

The total seats include 21,920 Gram Panchayat (GP) members with 10,883 reserved for women.

Voting also took place for 2,192 Anchalik Panchayat (AP) members, with 1,124 reserved for women, and 397 Zilla Parishad (ZP) seats, with 199 earmarked for women.

As many as 2,912 candidates have won uncontested-34 ZP seats, 311 AP and 2,567 GP ward members.

The administration arranged for adequate security measures in all 39 counting centres to avoid any such situations.

A total of 1,80,36,682 electors, including 89,65,010 women and 408 others, were eligible to exercise their franchise in 25,007 polling stations.

Altogether, 74.71 per cent of the eligible voters exercised their franchise during the two-phased panchayat polls.