GUWAHATI, Dec 3 ? The Congress emerged as the single largest party in the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) elections, bagging 27 of the total 57 wards for which polling was held last Monday. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged 13 wards while the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) secured 12. Independents won three wards while the NCP and the TGP got one each. Recounting was under way for one of the wards (No 12) where the AGP has emerged victorious on the first count.
It was a day of smiles, victory marches, sloganeering, disappointment and despondency for the contesting candidates who thronged the Cotton College and the Cotton Collegiate HS School, the two centres where the counting of votes started at 10 this morning. Thousands of supporters and onlookers thronged Panbazar where the counting centres were located.
The results started trickling in well before mid-day and continued coming in past 7 this evening. The entire area wore a festive look as expectant supporters came in strength to cheer the winning candidates. Security arrangements were tight with metal detectors installed at the entrances of the counting centres. Mounted police, riot police and fire brigade?they were all there to deal with any possible trouble.
Party heavyweights of all hues along with their minions were present to oversee the proceedings. Congress general secretary Haren Das was present at the office of the Returning Officer (RO) right since morning and stayed there till the counting was over. TGP leader Atul Bora, Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, and senior AGP leaders also made their presence felt. The officials had to get the Returning Officer?s room cleared several times during the day.
The newly elected Councilors (ward-wise) are:
1. Asad Ullah Sheikh (Ind),
2. Rukmini Das (AGP),
3. Kamal Dey (Cong),
4. Ranendra Kumar Sen (Cong),
5. Beauty Rajbongshi (Cong),
6. Subrata Dutta (Cong),
7. Dipankar Ghosh (Cong),
8. Anju Kalita Nath (Cong),
9. Mritunjay Das (AGP),
10. Brajen Das (Ind),
11. Nilakshi Talukdar (Cong),
12. Prabhat Kumar Das (AGP),
13. Jayanto Boro (NCP),
14. Namita Majumdar (BJP)
15. Pran Krishna Bhowmik (BJP)
16. Rabindra Dey (BJP)
17. Gunawati Teron (Cong)
18. Dipanwita Das (AGP)
19. Abdul Mannan Faruque (AGP)
20. Rupali Devi (AGP)
21. Sumit Das (BJP)
22. Sukhendu Bikas Palit (BJP)
23. Leena Mahanta (AGP)
24. Haren Boro (Cong)
25. Gopi Boro (AGP)
26. Madhuri Sarma (BJP)
27. Mrigen Das (AGP)
28. Sankar Chakraborty (Cong)
29. Kusum Jain (Cong)
30. Arjun Chetri (Ind)
31. Nalini Baishya (AGP)
32. Rohini Devi (Cong)
33. Mrigen Sarania (BJP)
34. Mohan Medhi (Cong)
35. Geeti Baruah (AGP)
36. Gopal Patowary (BJP)
37. Kushal Sarma (Cong)
38. no polls
39. Arnab Kakoty (BJP)
40. no polls
41. Doli Bora (Cong)
42. Anil Medhi (Cong)
43. Jitendra Ghosh (Cong)
44. Sikha Rani Choudhury (Cong)
45. Uttam Sarkar (Cong)
46. Bala Bhadra Das (Cong)
47. no polls
48. Rup Kumar Das (TGP)
49. Madan Boro (BJP)
50. Chikmik Talukdar (BJP)
51. Bhadreswar Tumung (AGP)
52. Paresh Rahong (Cong)
53. Nilima Bordoloi (BJP)
54. Sapan Das (Cong)
55. Ranjan Saikia (Cong)
56. Kumari Ronghang (BJP)
57. Ranjan Das (Cong)
58. Monoroma Deka (Cong)
59. Basanti Rabha (Cong)
60. Abdul Majid (Cong)
A delighted Haren Das, speaking to newspersons, said that the GMC election result was a vote for development. ?We can proudly say that in the past two and a half years we have done as much development work for Guwahati as was never seen before,? he said. The people have seen through the hollow promises of the AGP while the BJP has no issue at all, he said. Das said that the Congress was hopeful of the Independents supporting the Congress in the Corporation. The winner in Ward 10, Brajen Das, has already promised support, he claimed. Brajen Das was a Congressman before he was overlooked by the party during the distribution of tickets. He made it on his own steam.
The polls have thrown up some unexpected winners as well. Arjun Chetri (28), the winner from Ward 30 was clearly a dark horse. He has become one of the youngest Councilors in the GMC now.
Meanwhile, a controversy has arisen in the results of Ward 29 where the BJP?s runner-up candidate claimed that there were irregularities in the counting. Uma Sharma lost out to Kusum Jain of the Congress by a mere 20 votes. Her supporters plan to file a case in the court tomorrow. The Returning Officer Samir Kumar Sinha had to deal with several hotheads throughout the day. They came in regularly complaining of irregularities. ?We are doing everything in a transparent manner as democracy demands,? he said.