Himanta factor: Assam bucks anti-incumbency

NDA secures two-thirds majority

- MPOST BUREAU

Bucking anti-incumbency, the BJP-led NDA is set to return to power in Assam for a third consecutive term, sweeping the Assembly polls with a commanding two-thirds majority by winning 102 of the 126 seats on Monday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party alone secured 82 seats, with allies Asom Gana Parishad and Bodo Peoples' Front adding 10 each, in a result that cements Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's hold over the state and reinforces the NDA's dominance in the Northeast.

Sarma won the Jalukbari constituency for the sixth consecutive term, defeating Congress candidate Bidisha Neog by 89,434 votes.

In the opposition camp, the Congress won 19 seats, while the Badruddin Ajmal-led AIUDF and Akhil Gogoiled Raijor Dal secured two seats each, and the Trinamool Congress bagged one constituency.

In a major blow to the Congress, its state president Gaurav Gogoi lost in Jorhat to veteran politician and sitting BJP MLA Hitendranath Goswami by 23,181 votes.