The Assembly elections in Assam were held in three phases -- March 27, April 1, and April 6. While the Bharatiya Janata Party is looking at a second term in the state, Congress is fighting to return to power in the state.

In the battle to the 126-member Assembly, the BJP is in alliance with Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People's Party Liberal (UPPL). The Congress formed 'Mahajot' (Grand Alliance) with All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), Bodoland People's Front (BPF), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M), Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation (CPI (ML)L), Anchalik Gana Morcha (AGM) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

Candidates

A total of 946 candidates has contested in the three-phased polls. In phase 1, 264 candidates contested in 47 constituencies, 345 candidates were in the fray for 39 seats in the second phase and 337 candidates fought in the 40 constituencies in the third phase.

Some of the prominent candidates in the fray:

BJP: Sarbananda Sonowal, Himanta Biswa Sarma, Ranjeet Kumar Dass, Hitendranath Goswami, Ranjit Dutta

AGP: Atul Bora, Keshab Mahanta, Phanibhushan Choudhury, Kalpana Patowary

INC: Ripun Borah, Rajib Lochan Pegu, Bhaskar Jyoti Barua, Debabrata Saikia

Independent: Akhil Gogoi, Naba Kumar Sarania

Others: Lurinjyoti Gogoi (AJP), Pabindra Deka (AJP), Adip Phukan (AJP)

Exit polls:

Poll pundits have given an advantage to the BJP alliance and predicted it to win 60-80 seats. The Congress alliance is expected to be victorious in 50-70 seats and others at 0-5 seats. An alliance needs at least 64 seats to form the government in the state.

Voters

As per CEO Assam, 2,33,74,087 people were eligible to vote in this elections. Of these, 1,18,23,286 were male voters, 1,15,50,403 were female voters. It included newly enrolled voters 12,81,918; 5,05,874 voters in the age group of 18-19 years and 63,074 service voters.

Overall, over 82 percent of voter turnout was recorded in the Assam elections. In phase 1, the turnout was 79.93

percent, Phase 2- 80.96 percent, phase 3- 85.20 percent.

Current scenario

The BJP is governing under the leadership of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. The BJP has 60 MLAs, COngress 26 MLAs, AGP 14 MLAs, BPF 12 MLAs.

The term of the previous Fourteenth Legislative Assembly of Assam will end on May 31.

Interesting facts:

Highest number of electors

Phase-I: Jonai in the Dhemaji revenue district with 449 polling stations and having 3,11,660 electors.

Phase II: Hojai with 373 polling stations and has 2,65,886 voters.

Phase III:

Dispur with 607 polling booths having 4,11,636 electors.

Lowest number of electors

Phase-I: Thowra in Sivasagar district with 165 polling stations and having 1,15,364 electors.

Phase II: Howraghat in Karbi Anglong district with 195 polling stations having 1,32,339 electors

Phase-III: Chapaguri in Baksa with 236 polling stations having 1,59,257 voters.

First Published:May 1, 2021 10:06 PM IST