| Congress gains 32, loses 15 sitting MLAs | |
| Press Trust of India / Guwahati May 14, 2011, 18:24 | | |
The Congress in Assam, winning a near absolute majority with 78 seats, has wrested 32 seats from its opponents but its 15 sitting MLAs, including two ministers, have lost their seats.
The Congress has gained the maximum number of 15 seats from the AGP followed by seven seats from BJP, four from AIUDF, five from Independents and one from the CPI.
Congress's major achievement was getting the scalp of the president's of both the opposition parties - AGP and BJP.
AGP President Chandramohan Patowary's loss to former Congress MLA Neelmani Sen Deka in Dharmapur and BJP's state unit President Ranjit Dutta's debacle in Behali at the hand of an youth Congress leader and first time entrant into electoral fray Pallab Lochan Das was a huge embarrassment for both the parties.
The AGP, which managed to win only 10 seats, also had to face the defeat of several party stalwarts including former two-time chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta in Samaguri though he managed to win in his home constituency Baharampur.
Former AGP President Brindabon Goswami also lost Tezpur, which he has been representing since 1985, to Congress' Rajen Barthakur.
The Congress also wrested the traditional AGP bastion of Nowgong, Dhekiajuli, Khumtai, Dergaon, Sarupathar, Chaygaon, Nalbari, Mangaldoi (SC), besides Gauhati (West), Abhayapuri (South), Chenga, Tingkhong and Amguri.
The Congress wiped out the BJP from the Barak Valley, where it had won five seats in 2006, wresting Ratabari, Patharkandi, Karimganj (North), Dholai and Borkhola.
In Karimganj (North), the Congress wrested the seat from BJP's legislature party leader Mission Ranjan Das and in Borkhola it put up BJP sitting MLA, Rumi Nath, who was subsequently suspended for anti-party activities and joined the ruling party.
The Congress also wrested the Duliajan seat from the BJP.
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