DIBRUGARH, May 13 � Six out of the seven Assembly segments in the district voted decisively for the Congress, but in the district headquarters here, the party�s candidate was rejected by the voters.
Dibrugarh Congress candidate Dr Kalyan Kumar Gogoi had to bite the dust today with the BJP�s Prasanta Phukan defeating him by a convincing margin of 19,609 votes. The poll results here are as follows: Prasanta Phukan (BJP) � 46,506 votes, Dr KK Gogoi (Cong) � 26,897, Shyamal Baruah (TMC) � 5,223, Thaneswar Borah (AGP) � 1,969, Parvez Khan (AIUDF) � 1,663, Seema Ghosh (Independent) � 1,013, Avinash Singh (JMM) � 529 and Padmeswar Phukan (Independent) � 519.
The day the voters here came to know that Dr Gogoi secured the Congress ticket by outsmarting the two other contenders, Dr Dayananda Borgohain and Chandra Kanta Baruah (Deba), they almost made up their mind that they would remain with the sitting MLA, Prasanta Phukan. While Phukan has been in constant touch with the people of the city, Dr Gogoi seldom came here and had almost zero contact with the voters during the last five years. Earlier too, when he was MLA from here, he did not have a good reputation as a reliable public representative, which was why he was voted out in 2006, though by a slender margin of 176 votes.
Today�s result for the Dibrugarh Assembly constituency also proves that though the voters here are believed to be staunch Congress supporters, their support cannot be taken for granted. Moreover, a majority of the �party workers� who worked for Dr Gogoi during the run-up to the April 4 elections all had dubious track records. This only aggravated matters as conscious voters here reaffirmed their resolve to teach the Congress a lesson in the city for trying to take the citizens here for a ride.
Our Staff Correspondent adds: Elsewhere in the district here gave their mandate to the ruling Tarun Gogoi-led State Government by electing six Indian National Congress (INC) candidates in the Assembly polls from the seven Legislative Assembly Constituencies (LAC) in the district.
The Indian National Congress (INC) lost the prestigious No. 116 Dibrugarh Legislative Assembly Constituency (LAC) yet again to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but managed to snatch the 118 Duliajan LAC from the saffron party and 119 Tingkhong LAC from the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) to improve its previous four seats to six in the district.
The winners of the INC from the district are Water Resource Minister Prithibi Majhi (117 Lahowal), former state PWD minister Etuwa Munda (119 Tingkhong), Amiya Gogoi (118 Duliajan), Pranati Phukan (120 Naharkatia), Jibontara Ghatowar (115 Moran) and Raju Sahu (121 Chabua). Majhi, defeated his nearest rival Teros Gowala of the AGP to retain the Lahowal LAC. Majhi, who won by a margin of 23,911 votes has never lost elections. Munda got back the Tingkhong LAC which he held for two consecutive terms earlier from Anup Phukan of the AGP. Munda, who won by a margin of 15,524 votes, polled altogether 41,839 votes while Anup Phukan garnered only 26,315 votes in total.
Amiya Gogoi of the INC defeated two term MLA Rameswar Teli of the BJP by a margin of 3,336 to hold the Duliajan LAC. She polled altogether 39, 511 votes while Teli polled 36,175 votes. Raju Sahu retained the Chabua LAC, defeating his nearest rival Binod Hazarika of the BJP by a 11,108 votes. Sahu polled 38,576 votes while Hazarika polled 27,468 votes. The victory of Jibontara Ghatowar of the Congress from the Moran LAC was a foregone conclusion. She retained the seat by garnering altogether 47,127 votes while her nearest rival got some 17, 637 votes only. Pranati Phukan, too retained the Naharkatia seat by defeating her nearest rival Naren Sonowal of the AGP by a margin of 14397 votes. Pranati Phukan polled 35373 votes while Naren Sonowal polled 20,976 votes.
