Dispur: Counting of votes began at around 8 am on Tuesday for the bypolls in five Assembly constituencies in Assam - Gossaigaon, Bhabanipur, Tamulpur, Mariani and Thowra. After the first and second rounds of counting, BJP was leading in three seats.
In Thowra, Sushanta Bargohain was leading with 4,590 votes, Phanidhar Talukdar was leading in Bhawanipur while Rupjyoti Kurmi was leading in Mariani. The ruling BJP and its allies are leading in all the five assembly constituencies in Assam, where bypolls were held on October 30, according to the latest update of the counting trends put on the Election Commission of India (ECI) website.
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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Phanidhar Talukdar is leading with 5,754 votes against Congress candidate Sailendra Nath Das, who has secured 598 votes on Assam's Bhabanipur Assembly constituency, as per initial trends. According to the Election Commission of India, All India United Democratic Front candidate Jubbar Ali has secured 204 votes, while independent candidate Khampha Khungur Goyary secured 202 votes.
As per initial data, Voters Party International candidate Siben Das has secured 117 votes, whereas other independent candidates Ariful Islam and Shawkat Ali Ahmed have secured 94 and 58 votes respectively. The National Road Map Party of India candidate Merajul Haque has secured 48 votes.
In these by-elections, the BJP fielded its candidates in three seats and the candidates of United People's Party Liberal (UPPL) were in the fray in the other two seats. Congress had fielded candidates in all five seats, while its former allies All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and Bodoland People's Front (BPF) contested in two and one seats respectively.
