Topon Kumar Gogoi of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has emerged as a formidable contender against Gaurav Gogoi of the Congress party in the high-stakes battle for the Jorhat Lok Sabha seat in Assam. According to the India Today-Axis My India exit poll, he is poised to secure victory in this prestigious constituency.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha poll, Jorhat witnessed a riveting clash between the incumbent MP, Topon Kumar Gogoi, and Gaurav Gogoi, the deputy leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha. Gogoi had switched constituencies from Kaliabor to Jorhat following a recent delimitation exercise in the northeastern state.
The BJP's electoral triumph in Jorhat in 2019 saw Topon Kumar Gogoi defeat Sushanta Borgohain by a significant margin of 82,000 votes. Prior to that, in 2014, the BJP's Kamakhya Prasad Tasa had emerged victorious, defeating Bijoy Krishna Handique by a margin of one lakh votes.
Jorhat holds a special significance in Assam's political landscape. It was represented in the Lok Sabha twice by Gaurav Gogoi's father, Tarun Gogoi, who also served as the state's chief minister. Tarun Gogoi also won from Titabor Assembly seat, which falls within the Jorhat Lok Sabha constituency.
The upcoming contest in Jorhat is particularly intriguing given the fact that both candidates, Gaurav Gogoi and Topon Gogoi, hail from the Ahom community, which forms a significant demographic in the region. The BJP, led by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, has been leveraging its strong organizational machinery and the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's welfare schemes to maintain its dominance. Moreover, Sarma has injected a personal element into the contest, having shared a contentious history with Tarun Gogoi, the former Assam CM.
