Dibrugarh: A straight fight between BJP and Congress is expected in the newly constituted Chabua-Lahowal Assembly constituency in Assam’s Dibrugarh district.
Sitting BJP legislator Binod Hazarika will square off against Congress’s Pranjal Ghatowar in what promises to be one of the most closely watched contests in the district.
Hazarika brings considerable political experience to the newly carved seat.
He was the sitting MLA of the now-abolished Lahowal Assembly constituency, having won it in 2021 by defeating Aam Aadmi Party candidate Manoj Dhanowar by a margin of 17,248 votes — polling 59,295 votes against Dhanowar’s 42,047.
Before that, Hazarika had made history in the 2016 elections by becoming the first BJP candidate to win from the Chabua seat, defeating three-time Congress MLA Raju Sahu by a massive margin of 30,754 votes, with 69,351 votes against Sahu’s 38,597.
With the Chabua-Lahowal seat now merging areas from both his former constituencies, Hazarika is effectively returning to a political landscape he knows intimately.
His path to the ticket was not without friction. AGP’s Punakon Baruah, who had won the Chabua seat in 2021 after the BJP ceded it to its alliance partner, had also staked a claim for the new Chabua-Lahowal seat.
The BJP ultimately chose to field Hazarika, a decision that reflects the party’s confidence in his electoral track record but also required careful alliance management.
Facing him is 45-year-old Pranjal Ghatowar, son of veteran Congress leader and former Union Minister of DoNER Paban Singh Ghatowar, who hails from and has long championed the tea community.
The Congress’s choice of Pranjal for Chabua-Lahowal is strategic, the constituency has 1,77,238 voters, of whom approximately 33% belong to the tea community, making it a decisive and sought-after bloc.
Pranjal, however, carries the burden of a previous electoral setback. In the 2021 assembly elections, he contested from the now-abolished Moran constituency and was defeated by BJP’s Chakradhar Gogoi by 22,341 votes, Gogoi polled 55,604 votes against Pranjal’s 33,263. This election, therefore, is as much about personal redemption as it is about political strategy.
Beyond the electoral rivalry, Chabua-Lahowal faces serious and recurring developmental challenges. Floods and erosion caused by the River Brahmaputra and its tributary, the Buridehing, remain persistent threats to large parts of the constituency, causing annual destruction to homes, farmland, and livelihoods.
While road infrastructure has broadly improved across the constituency, a handful of extreme rural pockets continue to suffer from poor connectivity.
“We will vote for development. Floods and erosion are the main problems in the constituency. We have urged the government to take permanent steps to resolve the issue,” said Atul Saikia, a resident.
While JMM’s Bhupen Singh Murari and TMC’s Inus Kumar Kandapan are also in the fray, the battle is widely expected to be a straight two-horse race between the two principal parties.