Municipal election: BJP wins Sonai, Lakhipur with absolute majority; Congress-mukt Sonai, wins one ward in Lakhipur

Two municipality boards in Cachar district, Lakhipur and Sonai went for polls as did the other Municipality boards in the state. There was no election in Silchar as the government has decided to conduct polls after converting Silchar Municipality Board to Silchar Municipality Corporation.

Meanwhile, the counting process undergoing at the Government Boys School and Eirl High School in Lakhipur has reached the final stages. Barak Bulletin is in a position to call the election in favour of BJP in both the Municipality Boards.

In Lakhipur, there are 10 wards and it has been officially announced that BJP has won eight of them. Independent candidate, Joysree Sinha defeated BJP candidate by one vote to win ward number 10. Congress candidate has won ward number 6 to make it 8 – 2 in favour of the BJP. It is worth mentioning here that MLA Kaushik Rai was in charge of party’s campaign and election in Lakhipur and he must be very happy with the huge victory.

In Sonai, the voters have moved in favour of the BJP reversing the MLA election trend. In the General Election to Assembly last year, the voters of Sonai polled in favour of AIUDF Candidate, Karimuddin Barbhuiya against former deputy speaker, Aminul Haque Laskar. However, in the Municipality elections flow has turned in favour of the BJP.

MP Dr. Rajdeep Roy’s Sonai nominee, Saharul Alom Sheikh had already won Sonai Municipality’s ward number 7 uncontested. Apart from him, BJP candidates have won ward number 11, 5, 3, 4, 1 to seal the election with six wards out of eleven. Independent candidates, who are known to be pro-BJP have won ward number 6, 8 while AIUDF candidates have won ward number 9, 10, and 3.

It is worth mentioning here that Indian National Congress that once had Sonai as its bastion, contested in nine wards but managed to win none. In the 2021 Assembly election, the party’s high command decided to hand over the constituency to AIUDF as a part of the Mahajot alliance. If Congress failed to open its account due to the impact of hotchpotch alliance or because it has lost its Sonai foothold is something that calls for more analysis. However, it is certain that the party has become irrelevant in Cachar politics.