The first phase of the Assam-election concluded on March 27. A day after that, incumbent Chief Minister of Assam, Sarbananda Sonowal asserted that BJP would return to power to run Assam after the conclusion of the polls. Sonowal was among the candidates in the fray in the first phase of the Assam election. Assam Assembly Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami, ministers Atul Bora, Keshab Mahanta, Ranjit Dutta, Naba Kumar Doley, Sanjoy Kishan, Nazir Hussain, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee President Ripun Bora, Congress Legislature Party leader Debabrata Saikia, AICC secretary Bhupen Borah are among the others whose political fates would be decided by the result of the first-phase of Assam elections.

Sonowal stated that after BJP started governing the state (five years back), challenges came along; like issues related to governance, extremism, and illegal migrants. He added that works were done to earn the trust of the people and now Assam has peace and safety. But the issue related to the bungled implementation of NRC tells an opposite story related to trust, when many among the citizens had been kept in detention centres across the state. The issue of NRC has left the population in an anxious state and the BJP leadership flummoxed, when the data showed that more than 19 lakh people were put in the rejection list, when 3.29 crore people had applied for citizenship. Among those who were excluded from the draft NRC list & put in the rejection list were cases of military veterans, government officials, and even family members of a former President of India and former chief minister of Assam. This issue shows the huge disconnect of the BJP from the ground-reality.

Sonowal stated that it is not the question of whether Sonowal wants to remain in power, but the question is whether BJP has done great work. On the issue of NRC, he stated that his government would bring an error-free National Register of Citizens (NRC) and ensure that no “illegal migrant” is staying in the state. He further said, “NRC that has been published is full of defects, many illegal migrants are named. People of Assam want a rectified NRC. We will ensure no inflitrators’ names feature in corrected NRC.”

Also Read: Assam election: Will ask for your vote, then you need to prove your citizenship

At a rally in Guwahati on March 15, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had stated that there have been no major terrorist or extremist attacks in Assam in the past five years. The claim is inaccurate but not too off the mark, as suggested from the data available from the MHA annual reports. The 2019-20 annual report published by the MHA points out that Assam witnessed 153 insurgency-related incidents between 2016 and 2019. These resulted in the killings of 42 civilians, eight security force personnel, and 72 extremists. But compared to 2016, cases of insurgency-related incidents reduced by 77% in 2019. Hence, on the security front, the record of BJP looks decent in Assam.

Also Read: What does the BJP manifesto for the Assam election named Sankalpa Patra have?

BJP is confident about the ongoing election in Assam, and apart from this other parties in the region like JD(U) are not pushing too hard to make an inroad into the Assam politics. JD(U) claimed that it has fielded its candidates in 37 out of the 126 assembly constituencies in the state. The party is still in the fight in 34 constituencies inspite of rejection of nomination papers of three JD(U) candidates, Dimi Hasepi (Diphu), Abul Kalam Azad (Jaleswar) and Bornali Baruah (Gauhati East) during the scrutiny.  In the Assam polls, all of JD(U)’s top leaders, including Bihar-CM Nitish Kumar have so far stayed away from campaigning, which has left the political analysts mystified. Opposition leaders (in Bihar) stated that the JD(U) leaders are not heavily campaigning for the Assam polls because of ‘certain pressures’ from alliance partner BJP, which is looking forward to continue its hold over Assam. This point has been rejected by the JD(U) national secretary & north-east in-charge, Sanjay Verma who stated that there is no pressure on JD(U) from BJP. With regards to Congress, BJP has no challenge from the Grand old party of India as the latter is facing problems of discontentment over seat-sharing especially in Barak valley; the case of Sushmita Devi being a prominent one.

The fate of BJP is looking safeguarded with regards to Assam polls; all things being considered. The elections in Assam will be completed in three phases which began on March 27, with the vote counting and declaration of results scheduled on May 02.