Guwahati

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) on Sunday swept Guwahati Municipal election by winning 58 of the total 60 wards.

While the BJP bagged 52 seats and its ally AGP won 6 seats in Guwahati in the best ever performance by any political party since the formation of the corporation in 1974. It is also the highest ever tally by any party in the history of Assam's municipal elections.

The remaining two seats went to each of the two debutants Aam Admi Party and Asom Jatiya Parishad (AJP), while the Congress, the main Opposition party of the state has failed to win a single seat in the GMC polls.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked the voters of Guwahati for giving a "resounding mandate" to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and congratulated Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

"Thank you, Guwahati! The people of this lovely city have given a resounding mandate to BJP4Assam to build on the agenda of development. They have also blessed the hard work of the state government under CM Himanta Biswa. My gratitude to every BJP Karyakarta for the hard work," said PM Modi in a tweet.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, "I bow my head to the people of Guwahati for giving BJP and its allies a historic win of 58/60 wards in the GMC Polls."

He further said that with this massive mandate, people have reaffirmed their faith in the party's development journey under the guidance of PM Modi.

Polling in 57 wards out of 60 wards of Guwahati Municipal Corporation was held on April 22 as the BJP had won the other three unopposed. A total of 197 candidates were in the fray in the election.

The elections to the Guwahati Municipal Corporation recorded a 52.80 per cent turnout as EVMs used for voting in all polling stations for the first time in GMC polls.

Congress had contested the most wards at 54, followed by the ruling BJP at 50, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) at 39, and the Assam Jatiya Parishad at 25.

BJP's ally party Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) contested seven wards according to its seat-sharing arrangement with BJP.