Guwahati: The BJP-led NDA swept the Assam panchayat elections, decimating opposition parties, particularly the Congress.The counting of votes was underway when official figures last came in at 7 pm. The BJP and its ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) bagged 307 out of the total 397 Zila Parishad seats. The Congress was a distant second with 62 seats. Other smaller parties and independent candidates won altogether 28 seats.The BJP-AGP combine won 1,409 out of the 2,192 Anchalik Panchayat seats. The Congress secured 122 seats and others won 41 seats.Earlier, 2,912 candidates had won uncontested. There were also 2,567 Gram Panchayat wards but they were contested without party affiliations.The Congress suffered a huge setback in upper Assam, particularly in the two districts of Jorhat and Sivasagar where the party failed to win even a single Zila Parishad seat. Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi represents Jorhat in the Lok Sabha.The panchayat elections were billed as the semifinal of Assembly polls, due early next year. Buoyed by the results, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma exuded confidence NDA would win around 95 of the 126 seats in Assembly elections.”Towns and cities have been our strongholds traditionally. Now, we have performed very well in villages. There is a strong possibility that we will win around 95 seats in Assembly elections,” Sarma told the media. The BJP said the party-led alliance secured a historic victory due to overwhelming support from people. Terming the outcome as a victory for development and progress, state BJP president Dilip Saikia said people had cast their votes to “further accelerate the unstoppable momentum of progress under Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma’s government.” Saikia expressed gratitude to the voters for their unprecedented support in the polls. The polls were held in two phases on May 2 and 7 in 27 districts. Over 74% of the eligible voters had exercised their franchise across 25,007 polling stations.
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