HT Correspondent
TEZPUR, April 10: As the whole country prepares for the upcoming 18th General Lok Sabha Elections, anticipation and excitement continue to build among both candidates and voters in the 11-Sonitpur Constituency, erstwhile 9-Tezpur HPC. In a bid to secure voter support, candidates from various political parties have been conducting rallies, road shows, and door-to-door campaigns to win the first phase of the election game slated for April 19. Leaders of different political parties including state chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, former central minister and Congress leader Pawan Singh Ghatowar, AAP leader Atishi Marlena, and many others have kept up their pace in the constituency to accelerate the poll campaign.
New joining and shifting of members from one political party to another are also continuing during the poll campaigns in the Sonitpur Lok Sabha constituency, which includes nine LACs comprising Bihpuria, Biswanath, Gohpur, Bihali, Tezpur, Naduar, Borchala, Rangapara, and Dhekiajuli, having a total of 16,25,364 voters, including 8,10,112 male voters, 8,15,222 female voters, and 30 transgender voters. Various contenders have been addressing crowds, highlighting their respective agendas and promising development and progress for the constituency. While a triangular contest is anticipated among Premlal Ganju from the Indian National Congress, Ranjit Dutta from the Bharatiya Janata Party, and Rishiraj Kaundinya from the Aam Aadmi Party, the competition cannot overlook the presence of five other candidates including BPF’s Raju Deuri, Alam Ali from Bahujan Maha Party, Kameswar Swargiary from Voters Party International, the sole female contender of the constituency Rinku Roy from Gana Suraksha Party, and Pradip Bhandari, who is independently vying for attention and support from the electorate.
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If we peep through the lens of the last Lok Sabha Election, we find the sharing of votes in the last Lok Sabha poll against BJP were 58.21 percent (Pallab Lochan Das- 6,81,437), Indian National Congress (MGVK Bhanu- 4,40,461) 37.62 percent, Independent (Bijay Kumar Tiru- 23,626) 2.02 percent, Voters Party International (Mahendra Orang- 7,950) 0.68 percent, Nationalist Congress Party (Mahendra Bhuyan- 6,398) 0.55 percent. Among the nine LAC constituencies, Dhekiajuli contributed 98,152 votes to the winner and 48,315 to the Runners-up making a difference of 49,837 votes, Barchala contributed 71,689 and 51,066 with a difference of 20,623 votes, Tezpur contributed 74,055 and 66,696 with a difference of 7,359 votes, Rangapra contributed 73,992 and 43,332 with a difference of 30,660 votes, Sootea contributed 78,404 and 50,737 with a difference of 27,667 votes, Biswanath contributed 69,017 and 54,686 with a difference of 14,331 votes, Behali contributed 55,339 and 36,965 with a difference of 18,347 votes, Gohpur contributed 95,447 and 49,264 with a difference of 46,183 votes and Bihpuria contributed 65,342 and 39,400 with a difference of 25,942 votes, respectively.
Historically, the constituency has a great legacy as it had been represented by many distinguished MPs like Kamakhya Prasad Tripathy in 1952 from Indian National Congress, Padmabhushan Bijay Chandra Bhagwati, a known companion of Mahatma Gandhi, writer, and journalist, playing on the Indian National Congress card, had been represented the Tezpur constituency three times in 1957, 1962, and 1967 and played a significant role in the politics of the country. On the other hand, the brother of Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, Kamala Prasad Agarwala was elected as an MP from Tezpur representing Indian National Congress in 1971. Dr Purna Narayan Singha, a vocal leader from the constituency, was elected as an MP representing the Janata Dal in 1977. The later MPs representing Indian National Congress from the constituency were Bipinpal Das (1984), Swarup Upadhyay (1991), Iswar Prasanna Hazarika (1996), and Moni Kumar Subba (1999, 2004), Assam Gana Parishad candidate Joseph Toppo (2009), BJP candidate Ram Prasad Sarmah (2014), and Pallab Lochan Das (2019).
During the election campaign, BJP’s Ranjit Dutta has tried to reach the people by focusing on various government schemes including Lakhpati Baideo, Arunodoi, and other promises regarding job opportunities and good governance. While BJP is relying on the overall development witnessed in the constituency under its regime, the major Oppositions – Congress and AAP are emphasising the forceful implementation of the CAA by the BJP government and the skyrocketing price hike of essential commodities to attract voters. It is to be mentioned here that BJP workers under each booth of the Sonitpur LS seat are trying to reach every household with its election agenda and to hang party flags at every house. Significantly, BJP’s candidate Ranjit Dutta expressed full confidence in winning the seat by a significant margin commenting that voters in the constituency see no alternative to the BJP. He carried out his door-to-door campaign at various parts of all the assembly constituencies.
Meanwhile, Congress candidate Premlal Ganju has highlighted the skyrocketing price hike of the LPGs, implementation of CAA, petrol, and other basic amenities of the people. He has also expressed confidence in winning the battle. AAP candidate Rishiraj Kaundinya, amidst a busy campaign schedule, is focusing on addressing critical concerns including the problems facing by the netizens due to the Assam-Arunachal border disputes, flood and erosion mitigation, challenges faced by small tea growers, education, healthcare, and ensuring access to water and electricity, etc.
While interacting, various young and first-time voters in the constituency expressed their views with tremendous excitement, showing their eagerness to cast their first vote of life. Among them, a part of the voters expressed their deep concerns over several issues and several others showed their support to the ruling BJP government for their student-friendly initiatives. Overall, the views of first-time voters reflect a complex understanding of governance challenges and a resolute determination to hold leaders accountable for their actions.
