The Lotus Blooms Again

The Congress-led grand alliance bites dust in Assam as BJP retains power again in 2021

- Nabarun Guha

In December 2019 at the height of anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Binod Hazarika’s house was burnt down in Chabua in Dibrugarh district. Hazarika then had to flee with his family members.

Cut to May, 2021. Hazarika, who contested from Lahowal in Dibrugarh district in the Assembly elections, had a comfortable victory. This, in nutshell, is the story of the elections in Assam this year. Taking place just a year after the violent anti-CAA protests which rocked the State in December 2019, it was expected that the protests would have an implication on the results of the elections. However, nothing of that sort happened and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) retained power in Assam by winning 75 seats. While BJP won 60 seats, their allies Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and UPPL won nine and six seats respectively.

On the other hand, the Indian National Congress (INC) led Grand Alliance or Mahajot faltered big time, only being able to secure 50 seats. Congress, which had led the alliance, won just 29 out of the 95 seats they contested. Their allies, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) won 16 seats while Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) won four seats.

When it came to vote share in this election, BJP finished with 33.21% vote share, the highest among all the parties. Congress didn’t lag too behind with 29.67% votes but unfortunately, that didn’t translate into seats. AGP got 7.91% votes, AIUDF got 9.29% votes while 1.14% voters pressed the NOTA button.