BJP, BPF only parties to cross 50% vote-share mark in contested seats

Guwahati: Assam assembly election results have thrown up a striking rare pattern — only two parties, BJP and BPF, secured more than 50% share of votes in the constituencies they contested, revealed the detailed statistical report released by Election Commission on Friday.The EC report shows that despite contesting nine seats lesser than Congress, BJP polled over 17 lakh more votes.BJP contested in 90 of 126 seats and won 82. Its vote share in the contested constituencies is 54.84%, a first by the party in Assam. With 81,92,498 total votes polled in its favour, its overall vote share of the state’s total valid votes is 38.29%, which reduces to 37.81% if the NOTA votes are taken into account.This feat of going past the 50% mark is similar to the 2022 Gujarat assembly election, when BJP crossed the 50% mark. Since it contested all the 182 seats, the overall vote share and the vote share in contested seats were identical at 52.5%.India’s multi-party system means votes are split among several contenders and a single party bagging more than 50% vote share is very rare.In the 2021 Assam election, BJP’s vote share in the 93 seats it had contested was 45.71%, while its share in the votes polled in the entire state was 33.21%. BJP had contested in 93 of the 126 seats and had won 60. Back then, only AIUDF’s vote share in the seats it contested was over 50%. It had won 16 of the 20 seats it contested.BPF on the other hand, though contesting only 11 seats in 2026, emerged as a regional powerhouse, winning 10 of them. With a 3.77% overall share of valid votes, the party crossed the 50.76% mark in contested seats, reflecting its deep local connect and strong grassroots presence in the Bodoland areas.In contrast, Congress in 2026 contested 99 seats and won only 19, recording a share of 37.49% of votes in the seats it contested. Its overall share of valid votes was 30.21% and 29.84% when NOTA votes are counted.Regional parties like AGP and AIUDF retained pockets of influence, but did not cross the 50% threshold in their constituencies.Independents, who contested in large numbers, polled 4.43% of votes, but failed to secure any wins, while NOTA accounted for 1.23%, signaling modest voter dissatisfaction.