Rural and tea garden voters set to decide tight Congress–BJP battle in Makum

OUR CORRESPONDENT

TINSUKIA: The 85-Makum LAC, a new constituency carved out from the 3 nearby LAC segments of Tinsukia, Digboi, and Doomdooma, will witness a keen two-cornered contest between Congress candidate Sibanath Chetia and 2-term BJP MLA from Tinsukia & Minister Sanjoy Kishan.

Incidentally, Sibanath Chetia put up a fierce fight against the BJP in the 2021 election but eventually lost to Suren Phukan (BJP) of Digboi by a margin of 26,976 votes. Sanjoy Kishan, on the other hand, is facing backlash in Makum due to his poor track record in Tinsukia as a non-performing legislator.

The Makum LAC has a total of 1,58,430 voters, of which 75,457 are males, 82,967 are female voters, and 6 belong to the third gender. The female voters outnumber the male electorate by 4.7 percent.

Among the Assamese voters, the Moran and Mottock communities that constitute around 60,000 are the deciding factor, with an additional 7,000 from other Assamese communities. The Assamese voters alone comprise 42 percent.

The voters from the tea tribe or Adivasi community, which Sanjoy Kishan will attempt to capitalize on, constitute around 48,000, covering 19 tea estates. However, he might face difficulties in penetrating the Small Tea Growers (STGs) belt, which makes up 31 percent.

While the Bengali voters concentrated in and around Makum town constitute around 14,000, the Bihari and Nepali electorates together form 15,000. While the Muslim population in Makum is around 3,000, the other communities constitute 6,000.

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