Dec. 4: The results of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) election had a special bearing on four sitting Congress MLAs and Union minister of state for water resources, Bijoya Chakravarty who is an MP from the city.

The Congress had issued an undeclared whip to the four MLAs to ensure victory of the party candidates in the GMC election, while Chakravarty had played a crucial role in the BJP’s electioneering, from selection of candidates to planning campaigns.

Congress sources said the party would find out how much effort the MLAs had put in by assessing the performance of its candidates in the Assembly segments. The analysis might influence the next ministry reshuffle, the sources said.

During the run-up to the election, education minister Pankaj Bora, minister of state for sports and youth welfare Robin Bordoloi, minister of state for planning Himanta Biswa Sharma and MLA Himanta Talukdar went on hectic campaign tours for the party candidates.

The Opposition alleged that the Congress leaders were making all sorts of promises in blatant violation of the code of conduct. Some of the ministers even went to the extent of telling voters that by voting for the Congress candidate, they would actually vote for them.

Union minister Bijoya Chakravarty, too, did not restrict herself only to hectic campaigning but promised special central schemes if her party was voted to power.