Sarbananda Sonowal

Sarbananda Sonowal has been the Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and AYUSH in the Narendra Modi government since 2021. He is the senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and former Assam Chief Minister from 2016 to 2021. Sonowal was the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports from 2014 to 2016 and also the Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and Skill Development in 2014 in the first Narendra Modi Cabinet. Sonowal won Assam's Moran Assembly constituency in 2001 by defeating Congress candidate Jibontara Ghatowar with a margin of just 850 votes. Sonowal was a member of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) at that time. Sonowal won two back-to-back Assembly elections from Majuli in 2016 and 2021. In the 2016 Assam Assembly Elections, Sonowal defeated Congress candidate Rajib Lochan Pegu with a margin of 18,923 votes. He again won the seat in 2021 by defeating Rajib Lochan Pegu once again with a margin of over 43,000 votes. Sonowal won the 2004 Lok Sabha polls from Dibrugarh as an AGP candidate by defeating BJP's Kamakhya Prasad Tasa by 18,554 votes. However, he lost the 2009 parliamentary polls from the seat when he was defeated by Congress candidate Paban Singh Ghatowar with a margin of 35,143 votes. In the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, Sonowal won the Lakhimpur parliamentary constituency by defeating Congress candidate Ranee Narah with a huge margin of 2,92,138 votes. The BJP has again fielded Sonowal from Dibrugarh against Assam Jaitya Parishad's (AJP) Lurinjyoti Gogoi, who was supported by the Congress party, in the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. Sonowal is presently a Rajya Sabha member from Assam.