Lok Sabha elections 2024 Dibrugarh to Jorhat — key seats in Assam

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Assam, currently ruled by the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led BJP, shares its boundaries with countries like Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh, and has a total of 14 parliamentary constituencies. Voting for the Lok Sabha elections in the northeastern state will be held in three phases on April 19, 26, and May 7, while the counting of votes will be done on June 4.

During the 2019 polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won nine seats in the state, while Congress got three seats. The AIUDF and an independent candidate won one seat each.

This time, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in the state is contesting across all 14 seats in the state. The BJP has announced its candidates for 11 seats, while its alliance partners Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) will contest in two and the United Peoples’ Party Liberal (UPPL) in one. The Congress will likely field its candidates on 13 seats and has left one seat for its ally AJP.

Here’s a look at the key seats in Assam for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections:

1. Dibrugarh

The BJP has fielded Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal as its candidate for this seat, known for tea gardens and oil wells. He has been pitted against AJP’s Lurinjyoti Gogoi. Sonowal, a former chief minister, and Gogoi were previously the office-bearers of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU).

In 2004, Sonowal became the first non-Congress candidate to register a win from this seat on the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) ticket. He replaced Union Minister Rameswar Teli, who, in 2019, defeated Congress candidate Paban Singh Ghatowar by over three lakh votes.

2. Jorhat

Gaurav Gogoi, deputy leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Parliament and son of former chief minister late Tarun Gogoi, will contest from this seat on a Congress ticket. He is pitted against sitting BJP MP Topon Gogoi. The Congress has shifted Gaurav from the neighbouring Kaliabor (renamed as Kaziranga by the delimitation exercise) seat, which he earlier represented twice since 2014.

3. Guwahati

Being the Gateway to the North East, the Guwahati Lok Sabha seat will witness a contest between two women candidates of the BJP and Congress. While the BJP has replaced its sitting MP Queen Oja with its state party vice president Bijuli Kalita Medhi, the Congress party will be represented by Mira Borthakur Goswami.

4. Dhubri

This minority-dominated seat will see a three-way contest in 2024 with AIUDF president Badruddin Ajmal making a bid for the Lok Sabha for the fourth consecutive term. The Congress party has fielded former minister and current Samaguri MLA Rakibul Hussain while the NDA alliance is represented by AGP’s Zaved Islam.

5. Silchar

Silchar, one of the two seats in the Barak Valley, was last year declared as the Scheduled Caste constituency in the delimitation exercise. In 2024, Parimal Suklabaidya, Assam’s Excise, Transport and Fisheries Minister Parimal Suklabaidya and a BJP veteran, will take on Congress’s district general secretary Surjya Kanta Sarkar.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow