GUWAHATI: The ruling BJP and its allies on Tuesday looked set to win all the five assembly seats in Assam, where bypolls took place on October 30, according to the latest update of the counting trends by the Election Commission.
BJP candidates Phanidhar Talukdar, Rupjyoti Kurmi and Sushanta Borgohain are leading in Bhabanipur, Mariani and Thowra constituencies, respectively, the EC said.
While Talukdar and Kurmi are ahead of Congress candidates Sailendra Nath Das and Luhit Konwar by a margin of 30,389 votes and 26,538 votes respectively, Borgohain is leading with 16,002 votes over Raijor Dal's Dhaijya Konwar, who contested as an Independent.
All three BJP nominees were elected to the assembly in the general elections in March-April this year on tickets of opposition parties, but they subsequently resigned and joined the saffron party.
Talukdar had won as an AIUDF candidate, while Kurmi and Borgohain were Congress lawmakers.
BJP ally UPPL's candidates Jiron Basumatary and Jolen Daimary are leading in Gossaigaon and Tamulpur seats, respectively, according to data available with the poll panel.
Basumatary is leading by 22,941 votes over Dhruba Kumar Brahma Narzary of the Bodoland People's Front (BPF) and Daimary was ahead by 24,961 votes against Independent candidate Ganesh Kachary.
Bypolls in the two seats in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) were necessitated by the death of sitting MLAs.
An estimated 74.04 per cent of nearly eight lakh electors voted in the by-elections to the five assembly constituencies in Assam on Saturday, which remained completely peaceful.
Altogether, 31 candidates are in the fray, of whom eight each are in Gossaigaon and Bhabanipur, six in Tamulpur, five in Thowra and four in Mariani.
In the run up to the election, the authorities had seized cash, liquor and drugs worth Rs 1.71 crore from various places across the constituencies, a release issued by the Chief Electoral Officer, Assam, said.