New Delhi: Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) leader and the youngest candidate in the state Kunki Chowdhury failed to make an impact in her debut poll as BJP veteran Vijay Kumar Gupta defeated her by nearly 62,000 votes in Guwahati Central (Kamrup Metro) seat.
According to Election Commission data, Gupta bagged 1,01,297 votes against Chowdhury’s 39,376.
27-year-old Kunki had come under attack from Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who alleged that her mother posted about eating beef and made remarks offending ‘Sanatani’ sentiments. He had also lambasted her mother for allegedly supporting Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam.
She has repeatedly rejected the claims made by Sarma, and has expressed her surprise at being directly targeted by the Assam CM. Guwahati Central is a new constituency, formed post the 2023 delimitation exercise in the state.
The 70-year-old Vijay Kumar Gupta is an old BJP hand. Other candidates in the fray were the AAP’s Anurupa Dekaraja, with All India Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) Avijit Mazumdar, All India Forward Bloc’s Bipul Debnath among others.
Kunki holds a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from University College, London. According to her LinkedIn profile bio, she is a Strategic Development Manager at Shrimata Shankar Academy Society.
She garnered public attention because of her entry into politics at a young age, and being vocal about issues such as civic failures, urban issues and stymieing of young leaders in politics.
An online discourse of a fight between “Assamese and non-Assamese” has been doing the rounds in this constituency. She has called it a “public narrative” and has not used this as a plank in her discourse.
The AJP, a Congress ally, had failed to open its account in 2021 even as it had put candidates on 82 seats. This time, the party is contesting on 10 assembly seats.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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