GUWAHATI: Is it election fatigue or revulsion for turncoats? Could be either or both as the final voter turnout showed a 7% dip in Assam bypolls on Saturday, an indication which may swing the pendulum either way.
Sources in the election department said a significant number of voters may not have turned out on polling day as they were upset with turncoats. “When the winner changes the party weeks after declaration of the results, some voters don’t feel enthusiastic to vote for the same person fielded by another party,” a senior official of the election department told TOI as counting of votes will start at 8 am on Tuesday.
He said candidates changing the party may not have been taken in good light by the voters as BJP fielded three candidates who won on Congress and AIUDF tickets in the last assembly polls.
Moreover, he observed that lack of prominent leaders in some constituencies may have led to a noticeable fall in polling percentage. Senior Congressman and leader of the opposition Debabrata Saikia said, “The decline in voter turnout has indicated that the people are not enthusiastic about or hopeful of the new party. That’s why, despite repeated appeals from the ruling party, a significant number of voters did not come out to vote.”
Assam PCC president Bhupen Borah claimed Congress victory in Gossaigaon and Bhabanipur. State BJP president Bhabesh Kalita on the other hand claimed that the BJP and its allies will emerge victorious in all five seats.
Overall decline in voting percentage in the five seats has been 7.21%. Tamulpur assembly segment in Bodoland Territorial Region recorded the highest dip — 10.37%.
Chief electoral officer, Assam, Nitin Khade, reviewed counting arrangements with district election officers and said the election authorities have banned any victory procession after the counting amid the Covid situation.
“Not more than two persons will be allowed to accompany the winner or his/her authorised representative to receive the certificate of election from the returning officer concerned,” the election office said. A three-layer security arrangement has been made in the counting locations.
In the last assembly polls, Majendra Narzary of the Congress’s ally, the Bodoland People's Front (BPF), won in Gossaigaon, whereas another coalition partner, the AIUDF’s Phanidhar Talukdar won in Bhabanipur. Talukdar, alongwith Congress MLAs Sushanta Borgohain and Rupjyoti Kurmi later joined BJP and fielded by the saffron party from their respective seats. Both Borgohain and Kurmi got BJP tickets from Thowra and Mariani seats from where they were elected to state assembly in May on Congress ticket.
