The political turf in Assam has heated up, as the northeast state prepares of the upcoming assembly elections. The polling for the 126 seats in Assam will be held in a single phase on April 9. This will be along with the voting in Kerala and the union territory (UT) of Puducherry. Meanwhile, the counting of votes will be conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on May 4.
One of the 126 seats where polling is slated to be held on April 9 is the Barhampur assembly elections. A general seat that is a part of the Kaziranga Lok Sabha constituency, the Barhampur seat was established in 1972 and it is a part of the Nagaon district.
A bastion of Asom Gana Parishad
For the first four assembly polls since 1972 in Assam, people of the Barhampur assembly seat had selected three different parties and an independent candidate as their MLA. But since 1991, this constituency became a stronghold of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and its leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta. Mahanta has been a six-time MLA from this seat.
However, the AGP bastion was breached by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2021 Assam elections after party leader Jitu Goswami narrowly defeated Congress candidate Suresh Bora by around 800 votes. Goswami had received 70,111 or 48.70 per cent votes, while Bora polled 69,360 or 48.18 per cent votes. AGP's Dipika Saikia Keot was a distant third, with 1,922 or 1.34 per cent votes.
BJP's responses faith in Goswami
The saffron party has reposed its faith in Goswami for the 2026 elections, who has expressed confidence of retaining this seat once again. On the other hand, the AGP is looking to regain its control of the lost ground. For this, the party has fielded Rajen Gohain, who is looking to end the BJP's hold in Barhampur.
This constituency is expected to witness a triangular contest, with the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) fielding Mazibur Rahman. This has made the contest in interesting in Barhampur, and it would be interesting to see whether the AGP will regain control of Barhampur, or if BJP's Goswami retains this seat for the saffron party.
