BJP retains Assam's Dhemaji assembly seat, with reduced margin

Guwahati, April 13: Assam's ruling BJP retained the Dhemaji assembly seat in a bypoll as party candidate Ranoj Pegu trounced his nearest Congress rival Babul Sonowal by over 9,000 votes.

Pegu garnered 75,217 votes, while Sonowal got 65,932 votes.

The April 9 bypoll was necessitated after sitting BJP MLA Pradan Baruah was elected to the Lok Sabha from Lakhimpur in a bypoll. The counting was taken up on Thursday.

In the 2016 assembly elections, Baruah had defeated his closest Congress rival by over 19,000 votes.