GUWAHATI: The stakes will be high for the BJP and its allies when Assam goes to the third and final phase of parliamentary elections on May 7. The polls will be held in the four seats of Guwahati, Barpeta, Kokrajhar and Dhubri. Currently, Guwahati is with the BJP, Barpeta with the Congress, Kokrajhar with an independent and Dhubri with the minority-based All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF).
The BJP is contesting in Guwahati, Its ally Asom Gana Parishad in Dhubri and Barpeta while another ally United People’s Party Liberal is contesting in Kokrajhar. The battle is expected to be tough in Guwahati and Dhubri. In Guwahati, two women – Bijuli Kalita Medhi of the BJP and Mira Borthakur Goswami of Congress are in the fray.
Goswami is a firebrand leader who was with the BJP until being expelled in 2018. Ever since, she has been a strong critic of the saffron party. Medhi is relatively lesser known among voters, but she has the advantage of being the ruling party candidate.
Both have stepped up their campaigns. Goswami believes people will reject the BJP for failing to keep its promises. “I am pretty sure people are with the Congress. The BJP made a series of promises it failed to fulfil,” she said.
Medhi said, “I believe people would continue to keep their faith and trust in the BJP and not allow the BJP’s development momentum to be disrupted.”
So far, three women have represented Guwahati in the Lok Sabha. The first to be elected was Renuka Devi Barkakati of the Janata Party in 1977. The BJP’s Bijoya Chakravarty was elected in 1999. The third is sitting MP Queen Oja, of BJP.
Dhubri, which is a Muslim-majority seat on the Bangladesh border, braces for a contest between AIUDF chief Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, who is the three-time sitting MP, and former Congress minister Rakibul Hussain. Victory will determine the future of both the AIUDF and Congress.
The AIUDF is influential in the migrant Muslim areas but its popularity has somewhat waned in recent years following the perception that Ajmal, who is a perfume baron, is running the party as a business enterprise. If he wins, it will keep the AIUDF in good stead in the 2026 Assembly elections.
The Congress had been influential in Dhubri and the adjoining Goalpara and Barpeta districts for decades. It slowly lost the space to AIUDF when it emerged as a powerhouse. If Hussain, an MLA from central Assam’s Nagaon district, wins, it could well be the first step for the Congress towards regaining the ground in lower Assam.
Barpeta also has a sizeable migrant Muslim population but the AGP is expected to win the seat comfortably. The party fielded former minister Phani Bhushan Choudhury. He has a distinct record of representing the Bongaigaon seat in the Assembly for eight straight terms since 1985.
Choudhury will be up against Congress’ Deep Bayan. Sitting MP Abdul Khaleque of the Congress was denied the ticket by the party. Barpeta underwent massive demographic changes following delimitation last year. Many Muslim-dominated Assembly segments were sliced off while Hindu-dominated constituencies were added.
Observers say Choudhury’s victory is a forgone conclusion considering the likely distribution of anti-NDA votes among the Congress, the CPM and the Trinamool Congress.
A straight contest is expected between the UPPL and the Bodoland People’s Front in the Kokrajhar seat, which is reserved for Scheduled Tribes. The UPPL’s Joyanta Basumatary and the BPF’s Kampa Borgoyari are pitted against each other.