GUWAHATI
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) upstaged the Congress, Assam’s principal Opposition party, to emerge as the most vocal challenger to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the Guwahati Municipal Corporation polls.
The BJP has already won three of the 60 wards of the corporation. The campaign for the remaining 57 seats ended on April 20.
Apart from BJP, the AAP was the most boisterous party during the campaign. The crisis-ridden Congress was subdued while the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) did not contest the civic polls.
“We are hopeful of a good show. Many residents of Guwahati, unhappy with the lack of water supply and other civic amenities, consider us as an alternative to the BJP,” Bhaben Choudhury, the AAP’s State coordinator said.
The AAP is contesting 39 seats.
The Arvind Kejriwal-led party had tasted its first electoral success in Assam by winning a ward each in the Lakhimpur and Tinsukia municipal boards in March. The BJP had won 75 of the 80 municipal boards across Assam’s smaller urban centres.
The seriousness with which the AAP approached the Guwahati civic polls was evident from the campaigning by some of its Delhi-based leaders. They included party MLA Atishi Marlena, who slammed the BJP for making tall claims and denying basic amenities to the people of the city.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had drawn the State Election Commission’s attention for violating the model code of conduct by promising to add 1,000 beneficiaries from each ward to a government financial assistance scheme and grant ₹10 crore to each ward for development.
The BJP is contesting 50 of the 57 wards where elections would be held while its ally, the Asom Gana Parishad, is contesting seven. The Congress is contesting 59 wards, and the Assam Jatiya Parishad is contesting 25 wards.
The counting of votes will be on April 24.
