Assam: BJP sweeps Karbi Anglong council polls, Congress draws a blank

GUWAHATI: The BJP swept the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) elections by winning all 26 seats.

“It’s a clean sweep for the @BJP4Assam in the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council by winning all 26 seats. Tremendous performance by the party under the guiding light of PM @narendramodi Ji and able leadership of @himantabiswa Ji,” BJP national vice-president and Assam in-charge Baijayant Jay Panda tweeted.

The KAAC is made up of 30 members but as four are nominated, elections were held in 26 seats on June 8.

The Congress’ poor show continued. Both Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is trying to make inroads into the state, drew a blank.

The BJP was euphoric. The party, which had won 24 seats in the last KAAC elections, had facile victories in a number of seats.

“The Congress not only scored zero but it also failed to put up a contest. We won by a bigger margin of votes in most seats compared to the last time,” BJP leader and Minister Pijush Hazarika told journalists.

“We admit the AAP is rising but it is not a cause of concern for us. The AAP had eaten into the Congress’ votes,” he added.

Embarrassed but the Congress tried to put up a brave face.

“We did not expect much on the KAAC elections. It is common that the ruling party in a state wins the local elections,” state Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah said.

The Congress’ slide in Assam started in 2016 when the BJP had risen to power. Ever since then, the Congress has fared poorly in every single election in the state. In fact, it lost eight elections on the trot. It had failed to win a single ward even in the Guwahati civic body elections held recently.

The Congress in Assam is a divided house with party stalwarts leading their own faction. The Congress was weakened after several of its leaders, including MLAs, had defected to other parties, mostly BJP.