BJP scripts record first time since the independence, wins Guwahati for 3rd term in a row

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: For the first time since the independence of the country, a single political party namely BJP has been successful to win the Guwahati Lok Sabha seat for three consecutive terms.

The results of the elections held for the 17th Lok Sabha declared on May 23, 2019 scripted a record with the BJP winning the prestigious Gauhati seat for the third consecutive term. BJP candidate Queen Oja has defeated her rival Congress candidate Bobbeeta Sharma by nearly 3 lakh votes.

Gauhati Lok Sabha constituency spreading over ten Assembly segments – Dudhnoi (ST), Boka (ST), Chhaygaon, Palasbari, Hajo, Jalukbari, Dispur, Gauhati East, Gauhati West and Barkhetri – has 21,99,1112 voters. There are 11,23,5129 male voters, 10,75,5492 female voters and 491 third gender.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BJP candidate Bijoya Chakravarty defeated the Congress candidate Manash Borah by a huge margin of 3,15,784 votes.

In 2009, the contest in the Guwahati constituency was very close and Bijoya Chakravarty of the BJP eventually defeated Capt Robin Bordoloi of the Congress by a margin of only 11,855 votes. So, the BJP has won the Guwahati seat in 2009, 2014 & 2019 consecutively.

In the elections to the first Lok Sabha held in 1951-52, only three candidates were in the fray for the Guwahati seat. Rohini Kumar Chaudhury of the Congress won the seat by securing 96,122 votes.

Only two candidates were in the fray from the constituency in the General Elections to the second Lok Sabha held in 1957. Praja Socialist Party (PSP) veteran Hem Barua defeated Devendra Nath Sarma of the Congress. In the LS elections of 1962, Hem Barua got re-elected by defeating Congress candidate Tirtha Nath Sarmah.

The contest between the two leading candidates in Guwahati constituency was very close in the 1967 parliamentary polls. That year, when the Congress suffered its first major reverses nationally since Independence. Dhireswar Kalita of the CPI defeated Congress’ Renuka Devi Barkataki by a margin of only 1,550 votes. Since then various candidates of different political parties have been winning the Gauhati seat but not for three consecutive terms at a stretch.

Also read: GUWAHATI CITY