Different party, but same Dibrugarh seat for Sonowal

Union Minister Sarabananda Sonowal last represented the Dibrugarh Lok Sabha constituency from 2004 to 2009, winning the elections on a Asom Gana Parishad ticket. He lost the elections in 2009, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) two years later, and became Assam’s first BJP chief minister in 2016.

However, when the BJP won the Assembly elections again in 2021, Himanta Biswa

Sarma succeeded Sonowal, who was sent to the Rajya Sabha and inducted in the Union Cabinet.

For the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Sonowal is back contesting from Dibrugarh with the BJP discarding its two-term incumbent MP from the seat, Rameswar Teli.

Sonowal faces Assam Jatiya Parishad’s Lurinjyoti Gogoi, one of the leaders of the anti-citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in the state. The Assam Jatiya Parishad was formed in the wake of the anti-caa protests and has an alliance with the Congress in the state. The Aam Aadmi Party has fielded Manoj Dhanowar from the seat, whose father, the late Rameshwar Dhonowar, was an eightterm Congress legislator from the Digboi Assembly seat, which is part of the Dibrugarh Lok Sabha seat. Like Sonowal, Gogoi was also a member of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU).

Dibrugarh has the most number of tea gardens in Assam, and a hub of oil and gas publicsector undertakings, petrochemicals, and a gas cracker plant. Its 1.65 million electorate is diverse, comprising Ahoms, Muttocks, Sonowal-kacharis, tea tribes, Hindu Bengalis, and Assamese Muslims. Gogoi has flagged the concerns among indigenous tribes about the CAA leading to an influx of “foreigners”, while Sonowal has showcased the development that has taken place during the BJP rule in the state and at the Centre.