Gaurav Gogoi Loses Bastion In Panchayat Elections: A Blow to Congress Ahead of 2026 Assam Polls

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Last Updated:May 13, 2025, 19:57 IST

The Congress failed to unafraid adjacent a azygous ZP spot successful the 16 constituencies nether the Jorhat Lok Sabha constituency, a portion considered the stronghold of the Gogoi family

For Gaurav Gogoi, this is simply a defining moment. (PTI File)

The Assam Panchayat elections delivered a resounding verdict — the Congress is successful occupation successful Assam. Moreover, the results spelt a governmental catastrophe for Gaurav Gogoi, Deputy Leader of the Opposition successful the Parliament and the sitting Member of Parliament from Jorhat.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) connected Tuesday registered a landslide triumph successful Assam agrarian polls, winning 219 of the 397 Zilla Parishad seats and 901 of the 2,192 Anchalik Panchayat constituencies, officials said.

The Congress failed to unafraid adjacent a azygous Zilla Parishad spot successful the 16 constituencies nether the Jorhat Lok Sabha constituency, a portion historically considered the stronghold of the Gogoi family. The decision is not conscionable numerical, it’s symbolic – a ace successful the precise instauration that erstwhile held the Gogoi bequest aloft successful Upper Assam.

LEGACY UNDONE

Jorhat is not conscionable different constituency. It has agelong been the governmental epicentre of the Gogoi family’s influence. The precocious Tarun Gogoi, three-time Chief Minister of Assam and Gaurav’s father, had built an enduring enslaved with the radical of this region. His legacy, however, appears to beryllium faltering nether the existent enactment of his son.

In the 2018 panchayat elections, the Congress had performed comparatively good successful Jorhat, riding connected residual goodwill and organisational strength. However, the 2024 results are a stark opposition – the implicit decision successful Jorhat, Majuli, Charaideo, and Sibsagar paints a grim picture. In Sibsagar, an Ahom-dominated territory and heartland of Assamese taste identity, the Congress mislaid each 12 ZPC seats. The rejection by the Ahom assemblage – the assemblage Gogoi belongs to – underscores a deeper displacement successful governmental sentiment.

REGIONAL WAVE OR A LEADERSHIP CRISIS?

The rout of the Congress successful these important districts cannot simply beryllium attributed to shifting determination tides. It calls into question Gogoi’s link with the grassroots and his quality to galvanise enactment workers and voters alike.

“Political script changes each twelvemonth and this year, things successful Jorhat person been antithetic than last," expressed Gaurav Gogoi.

CM Himanta Biswa Sarma seized the moment. “If the panchayat occurrence replicates successful 2026 assembly polls, we shall get 100 seats successful Assam," helium proclaimed, highlighting the BJP’s inroads adjacent successful accepted number strongholds. “The Congress has failed to get enactment successful Hindu-majority areas. The beverage plot assemblage has expressed implicit enactment to us."

BJP’s RISE & FALL OF THE ‘THREE GOGOI’ OPPOSITION

Union Minister Pabitra Margherita, who was specifically tasked with challenging Gogoi’s grip connected Jorhat, has emerged successful. The BJP’s resounding occurrence successful this circular of section elections is not conscionable electoral. It shows a enactment well-oiled, well-prepared, and profoundly embedded successful Assam’s agrarian landscape.

Meanwhile, the much-hyped “Three Gogoi" absorption – Gaurav Gogoi of Congress, Akhil Gogoi of Raijor Dal, and Lurinjyoti Gogoi of Asom Jatiya Parishad – failed to construe into a governmental force. Not lone did they suffer each ZPC seats successful their respective constituencies, but they besides failed to contiguous a agreed beforehand against the BJP juggernaut. A visibly disheartened Akhil Gogoi admitted, “We person to admit that we could ne'er travel unneurotic arsenic absorption to antagonistic the BJP. In 2026, we request to enactment arsenic a squad and if that beryllium so, past the Congress needs to instrumentality the archetypal step."

The deficiency of consensus, lack of strategical alignment, and inability to contiguous a coherent imaginativeness person near Assam’s absorption fractured and faltering.

WARNING SIGNS FOR AIUDF AND BROADER OPPOSITION

The debacle hasn’t been constricted to Congress. AIUDF, led by Maulana Badruddin Ajmal and ascendant successful the number belts of Assam, besides saw an underwhelming performance. The nonaccomplishment to clasp crushed successful these areas – erstwhile reliable ballot banks – signals the increasing footprint of the BJP across each communities, including the minorities and beverage tribes.

WHAT LIES AHEAD

The panchayat elections, often seen arsenic a barometer of grassroots governmental sentiment, person fixed a wide informing to the Congress. With the 2026 Assam assembly elections looming, the enactment faces an uphill conflict not conscionable against a formidable BJP, but besides against interior disillusionment and enactment deficits.

For Gogoi, this is simply a defining moment. The nonaccomplishment successful his location turf is an indictment of leadership, strategy, and relevance. Whether helium tin bounce backmost and reassert his governmental stature volition beryllium not conscionable connected idiosyncratic ambition, but connected his quality to unify a fractured absorption and reconnect with the radical who erstwhile saw him arsenic the earthy heir to Assam’s governmental legacy.

Location :

Assam, India, India

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News elections Gaurav Gogoi Loses Bastion In Panchayat Elections: A Blow to Congress Ahead of 2026 Assam Polls