New Delhi: Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) chief Lurinjyoti Gogoi was trailing the BJP’s Chakradhar Gogoi in the Khowang constituency by more than 8,500 votes after 10 rounds of counting, according to Election Commission data.
There are five more rounds of counting to go.
For Lurinjyoti, the contest is make-or-break: the AJP has not won a single seat despite contesting multiple constituencies in the 2021 Assam assembly election and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. A win at Khowang would be the party’s first.
The AJP was founded in 2020 by leaders of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and other civil society groups in the wake of the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protests.
Lurinjyoti, a former general secretary of AASU where he led mobilisations around Assamese identity and opposition to CAA, transitioned into electoral politics and now leads the party.
The AJP is part of the Congress-led Opposition alliance in Assam.
His personal electoral record is one of near-misses: he lost the 2021 election from Duliajan and finished runner-up in the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Dibrugarh. Khowang, in that context, carries the weight of both his own political credibility and his party’s viability.
Also in the fray are Independents Biju Dowarah and Dr. Prabhakar Das.
Political observers describe the contest as a litmus test for new regional forces against the BJP’s entrenched machinery and popularity of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Lurinjyoti’s key contender Chakradhar Gogoi is a senior BJP leader and former MLA from Moran constituency who has been active in state politics for several years.
Known in Upper Assam for his organisational work within the party, Chakradhar built his political base among communities in Dibrugarh district and surrounding areas. Earlier in his career, he was associated with regional movements.
(Edited by Prerna Madan)
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