The ruling NDA is set to form the government in Assam for the third consecutive term after securing a two-thirds majority, with a record high of 102 seats in the 126-member Assembly, while the Congress-led Opposition delivered its worst performance in recent times on Monday.The BJP, which contested 90 seats, won 82, while its allies — the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), which contested 11 seats, and the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), which fought in 26 seats — bagged 10 constituencies each.The saffron party secured a majority on its own for the first time in the state. It had won 60 seats in the previous two polls in 2021 and 2016.In the Opposition camp, the Congress, which contested 99 seats, won 19 constituencies, while the Badruddin Ajmal-led AIUDF and Akhil Gogoi-led Raijor Dal secured two seats each and the Trinamool Congress bagged one constituency.Raijor Dal, an opposition alliance partner, had contested 13 seats, while the other parties in the camp — Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), CPM and APHLC — drew a blank.Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma won the Jalukbari constituency for the sixth consecutive term, defeating Congress candidate Bidisha Neog by 89,434 votes.In a major blow to the Congress, its state president Gaurav Gogoi lost in Jorhat to veteran politician and sitting BJP MLA Hitendranath Goswami by 23,181 votes.Sarma thanked the people for the NDA’s stupendous performance in the Assembly polls, and said it was a reflection of the “good work of the government” and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s thrust on development of the northeastern state.He accused the Congress of bringing in caste politics and trying to derive electoral benefits from singer Zubeen Garg’s death, maintaining that these led to the party’s poor show in the hustings.Addressing a press conference at the BJP state headquarters here, Sarma said, “It is an unprecedented victory for a ruling alliance. It is for the first time that the BJP has secured a majority in the state.”“Hat-trick with a century!” the CM said in a post on X, as the ruling alliance headed for the three-digit figure.“We had faith that we would win in 100 seats and we went to the people with that belief. With humility, we sought votes, and people have blessed us. I express gratitude to the people of Assam on my behalf and on behalf of all BJP workers and our alliance partners,” Sarma said at the state party headquarters. He said Modi had spent two hours with the party workers in the state headquarters during one of his visits in the run-up to the elections, guiding them on how to proceed to ensure success for the party.On the Congress’ performance, which has been confined to 19 seats, Sarma said, “People have punished them for politicising singer Garg’s death. Garg cannot be an election issue, he was above politics. But the Congress mentioned him in their manifesto, and it did not go well with the people.”Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Jitendra Singh tendered his resignation as the party’s general secretary in-charge of Assam with immediate effect, taking responsibility for the outcome of the Assembly polls in which his party suffered a crushing defeat.