Assam BJP dissolves minority cell after poor performance in Muslim-dominated seats

The party’s lone Muslim MLA lost the Sonai seat in Barak Valley to his AIUDF rival.

BJP supporters at an election rally in Sualkuchi, Kamrup (Metro) district of Assam on Sunday, April 04, 2021.

The Assam unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has dissolved its minority cell after none of the nine Muslim candidates the party had fielded managed to win a seat in the recently-concluded Assembly election.

The BJP had won 60 of the 126 seats in the State. Its two regional allies bagged 15.

“The Sankhyaloghu Morcha (minority cell) and all its units have been dissolved,” party’s State general secretary Rajdeep Roy said in a notification on Wednesday.

Among the losers in the Muslim-dominated seats was Deputy Speaker Aminul Haque Laskar, who had won the Sonai seat in Barak Valley in 2016. He lost the seat to Karim Uddin Barbhuiya of the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) by 19,654 votes.

Assam has 34 Assembly constituencies where Muslims are the largest chunk of voters. Of the 31 Muslim candidates who won from these seats, 16 were fielded by the Congress and 15 by its ally, the AIUDF.

The Congress won a total of 29 seats and the AIUDF 16.