Will win 8 to 10 seats in Assam: Congress

Congress in Assam on Wednesday exuded confidence of winning at least eight to 10 of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state, elections for which concluded on Tuesday.

"Our assessment and ground report suggests that we will win at least eight seats and may go up to 10 this time. There was a strong undercurrent among voters regarding the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and Narendra Modi government's failure to fulfil its tall promises. There is strong anger among the state's indigenous voters and they want a change at the Centre to stall the bill," Ripun Bora, president of Assam unit of Congress said here.

Elections for the 14 Lok Sabha seats was conducted on April 11, April 18 and April 23.

In 2014 Congress had won three seats while BJP bagged seven. Maulana Badruddin Ajmal-led Aiudf got three and one went to an Independent candidate. BJP and its allies Asom Gana Parishad and Bodoland People's Front has claimed they would win 12 seats in the state, despite the agitation against the Citizenship bill.

EC acted as BJP's puppet

Bora also called Election Commission a "puppet" of ruling BJP for not acting on its complaint against Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for allegedly violating the election model code of conduct. "We had lodged a complaint with the commission when Sarma had given an interview to News Live, a news channel owned by his wife, less than 12-hours before the first phase of election on April 11. In the interview telecasted live, Sarma tried to influence voters in favour of BJP even as such publicity is prohibited within 48-hours before polls, as per the model code of conduct. But the commission did not act on our complaint. The Election Commission is acting as a puppet of BJP and neglecting the code of conduct violations by the ruling party. We condemn such partisan role played by the commission," Bora said.