Guwahati, Nov. 22: The BJP's victory march continued in Assam with the ruling party today sweeping the byelections by winning both the Lakhimpur Lok Sabha and Baithalangso Assembly seats.
Sources said the election results would be a morale booster for the party in the face of recent widespread criticism of the Centre's decision to grant citizenship to Hindu migrants from Bangladesh.
The BJP came to power for the first time in Assam in May this year by defeating the Congress, which ruled the state for the past 15 years.
State cabinet minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told television reporters here this evening that the victory has proved that the BJP is now the first choice for the people of Assam and work done by the Narendra Modi and Sarbananda Sonowal governments has gone in favour of the people.
The BJP candidate and sitting MLA Pradan Baruah won the Lakhimpur parliamentary seat by defeating rival Congress candidate Hema Hari Prasanna Pegu by 1,90,219 votes.
The byelection to Lakhimpur constituency was necessitated as chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal vacated the seat following his election in May to the state Assembly from Majuli (ST) constituency, which falls under this Lok Sabha seat.
BJP candidate Man Sing Rongpi was elected from Baithalangso (ST) Assembly constituency for the fourth consecutive time, defeating the Congress's Rupon Singh Ronghang by 16,600 votes.
The byelection was necessitated as Rongpi, sitting MLA, switched over to the BJP from the Congress in July.
While there were celebrations in the state BJP headquarters at Hengerabari here, Rajiv Bhawan, the Congress headquarters on GS Road, looked deserted.
In Tripura, the ruling CPM has swept both the Barjala (SC) and Khowai Assembly constituencies by convincing margins. The counting for both the seats today began simultaneously at 7am.
Counting progressed rapidly and by 11am, the picture was clear as CPM's Jhumu Sarkar in Barjala (SC) constituency edged out his nearest BJP rival Shishta Mohan Das by a margin of 3,374 votes. Jhumu secured 15,769 votes while the BJP candidate obtained 12,395 votes.
Trinamul Congress candidate and former minister Prakash Chandra Das polled 5,692 votes while Congress candidate Rajendra Das got 1,063 votes.
In Khowai, a traditional Left bastion, CPM candidate Biswajit Dutta defeated his Trinamul rival Manoj Kanti Das by 16,094 votes. Dutta secured 24,810 votes while Das got only 8,716 votes.
BJP candidate Tapan Chandra Paul managed to secure only 2,528 votes while Congress candidate Pranab Kanti Biswas trailed far behind with a paltry 696 votes. The Congress and the Amra Bangali candidates lost their security deposits.
In the "none of the above" or "Nota" section, 376 votes were cast in Barjala (SC) but in Khowai, Nota got 247 votes.
The state BJP president, Biplab Deb described the poll outcomes as "indicative of the BJP's growing support base".
"This is a good beginning as we have secured second position in Barjala (SC) and increased our vote strength from 223 in 2013 to 2,528 in the bypolls," Deb said.
He said in 2018, the BJP would give the CPM a run for its money by putting up a strong political and electoral challenge. He hailed the people for coming out in support of a nationalist force like the BJP. "What we have achieved in Assam will be replicated here," Deb said.
Additional reporting by Vinod Kumar Singh in Dhemaji, Sarat Sarma in Nagaon and Sekhar Datta in Agartala
