The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gained a big lead in the Assam panchayat elections, counting of which are currently underway. The party won 481 Gram Panchayat Member (GPM) seats, six Anchalik Panchayat Member (APM) seats and two Gram Panchayat President seats.
A total of 7,667 candidates are contesting for 2,199 Gaon Panchayat president seats and 62,388 candidates for the 21,990 Gaon Panchayat ward member seats.
Out of 21,990 GPM seats, the Congress bagged 248 and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) has managed 62. Out of 2,199 APM seats, Congress has bagged just one seat.
The polling was held in two phases. Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sivasagar, Charaideo, Jorhat, Majuli, Golaghat, Nagaon, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Biswanath, Sonitpur, Darrang, Morigaon, Kamrup (Metro) and Kamrup (Rural) districts went to polls in the first phase. In the second phase, ten districts went to the polls — Nalbari, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Dhubri, South Salmara-Mankachar, Goalpara, Cachar, Hailakandi, Karimganj and Hojai.
Eighty-two per cent voting was recorded in the two-phase elections.
The counting began at 8 am on Wednesday and Thursday is the tentative day for the final results as the voting was done through paper ballots. CCTVs have been installed at counting centres. Over 78,000 candidates are in the fray in the polls.
