: Sarbananda Sonowal, Gaurav Gogoi files nominations

Guwahati: Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal and several other heavy weight candidates including Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi for ensuing Lok Sabha elections in Assam on Tuesday filed nomination from their respective five Lok Sabha constituencies going to polls in the first phase of polling.

Mr Sonowal submitted his nomination as the BJP candidate for the Dibrugarh parliamentary constituency while Mr Gogoi filed his nomination from Jorhat parliamentary constituency in Assam. Mr Sonowal, accompanied by Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, filed his nomination papers before Returning Officer Bikram Kairi. Besides Mr Sarma, Mr Sonowal was accompanied by Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) president Atul Bora, United People's Party Liberal (UPPL) leader Promode Bodo, sitting BJP MLA and Union minister Rameswar Teli and state party president Bhabesh Kalita.

Mr Sonowal's political journey includes serving as the chief minister of Assam from 2016 to 2021 and holding the presidency of the Assam BJP during two terms: 2012 to 2014 and then from 2015 to 2016. It is significant that he also led the All Assam Students Union (AASU) from 1992 to 1999, which is the oldest student body in Assam.

Before joining the BJP in 2011, Mr Sonowal, a three-time MLA (representing Moran once and Majuli twice), was actively involved in the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) party, which emerged after the Assam agitation. He won the Moran Assembly seat in 2001 under the AGP banner and retained his position until 2004.

In 2016, Mr Sonowal was elected from the Majuli Assembly seat and became the chief minister. However, in 2021, he won the Majuli seat but resigned as the MLA after he was appointed as a Rajya Sabha MP and inducted into the Union Cabinet following Himanta Biswa Sarma's appointment as chief minister of Assam the same year.

Mr Sonowal is contesting for the Dibrugarh seat, replacing the incumbent party MP and union minister of state for petroleum and natural gas and labour and employment, Rameswar Teli, who had previously won the seat in 2014 and 2019.

Mr Sonowal, the union minister for shipping, ports, waterways and ayush, who had represented the constituency in 2004 as an AGP candidate, will contest against United Opposition Front, Assam (UOFA) nominee Lurinjyoti Gogoi who also filed his nomination. Mr Gogoi was accompanied by several Congress and tea tribe leaders and RS MP Ajit Kumar Bhuyan.

Mr Gogoi, the former general secretary of AASU from 2015 to 2020, is making his debut in parliamentary elections. Previously, he contested in the 2021 Assam Assembly elections after establishing AJP in 2020 but was unsuccessful. He contested from his home constituency, Duliajan, and suffered a defeat.

Braving inclement weather, BJP supporters came out in large numbers to attend a rally addressed by Mr Sonowal before the party took out a procession to the Office of the Returning Officer in Dibrugarh for filing the nomination. Mr Gogoi was also backed by a large number of supporters.

Earlier, sitting BJP MP Pradan Baruah also filed his nomination papers for the Lakhimpur constituency in presence of chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi who filed his nomination in Jorhat was accompanied by PCC chief Bhupen Kumar Borah and UOFA leader and MLA Akhil Gogoi among others. The Congress candidate Rosalina Tirkey, from Kaziranga Lok Sabha seat also filed her nomination.

Five constituencies will go to polls in the first phase – Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur, Jorhat, Kaziranga and Sonitpur.