52% turnout for Guwahati civic polls

The BJP has already won three of the 60 wards uncontested

The elections to the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) on Friday recorded a turnout of 52.8%.

Assam State Election Commission officials said the elections were peaceful and there was no request for any re-poll.

The polling was held in 57 of the 60 wards of the corporation as the Bharatiya Janata Party had won the other three unopposed.

The 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. The Asom Gana Parishad contested seven wards according to its seat-sharing arrangement with ally BJP.

The CPI (M), an ally of Congress, contested four wards while others including independents contested 19. The total number of candidates is 197.

The BJP had approached the elections to the GMC, the most prestigious civic body in Assam, after having won 75 of the 80 municipal boards across the State in March.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma led the BJP’s campaign while the campaign of the defection-deflated Congress was spearheaded by state unit president Bhupen Kumar Borah.