Assam bypolls: BJP retains Behali assembly seat

 The BJP on Saturday retained the Behali assembly constituency in Assam bypolls with its candidate Diganta Ghatowal defeating his nearest Congress rival Jayanta Bora by 9,051 votes, officials said.

Ghatowal polled 50,947 votes while Bora secured 41,896.

There were four candidates in the fray inthe constituency, including Lakhikanta Kurmi of the CPI(ML)-L and Ananta Gogoi of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) with both losing their deposits.

The seat was earlier held by Ranjit Dutta who was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Tezpur parliamentary seat.

The allies of the ruling NDA were leading in three other constituencies with the BJP in Dholai (SC), AGP in Bongaigaon and UPPL in Sidli (ST) while Congress was leading in Samaguri.

Bypolls were held in the five assembly constituencies as these seats fell vacant following the election of the MLAs to the Lok Sabha earlier this year.

The BJP contested in three of the five constituencies - Behali, Samaguri and Dholai - while its alliance partners AGP and UPPL put up candidates for Bongaigaon and Sidli seats.

The Congress contested all the five constituencies.