Assam polls: Gaurav Gogoi’s debut in state politics ends in defeat in Jorhat

The political contest intensified after Sarma accused Gogoi and his British-born wife of having alleged links with Pakistan’s ISI.

PTI, May 04, 2026, Guwahati : Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi faced his first electoral defeat in his political career, losing to veteran BJP leader Hitendranath Goswami by 23,182 votes in the Jorhat Assembly constituency.

Gogoi, a three-time MP from the state, was poised to follow his illustrious father Tarun Gogoi’s political trajectory by returning to state politics after stints at the Centre, but the senior BJP leader played spoilsport. Gogoi polled 46,257 votes, while Goswami secured 69,439 votes, retaining the seat for a third consecutive term.

Gogoi’s entry into the Assembly fray followed his victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Jorhat by a comfortable margin, a result that had put the ruling BJP on the defensive, particularly Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who had campaigned extensively against him.

The political contest intensified after Sarma accused Gogoi and his British-born wife of having alleged links with Pakistan’s ISI. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted, which submitted its report in September last year.

Gogoi, who has served as Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had dismissed the allegations as “baseless” and said the “script is worse than a C-grade Bollywood movie”.

Sarma’s differences with Gogoi are often traced to his strained ties with Tarun Gogoi during the latter’s third term as chief minister, following which Sarma left the Congress and joined the BJP.

The Congress received a morale boost after Gogoi’s Lok Sabha win from Jorhat, his first contest from the seat after his earlier constituency Kaliabor was redrawn following delimitation.

The party later appointed him as Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president ahead of the Assembly polls, signalling its confidence in him despite the allegations levelled by the chief minister.

Undeterred by the exit of several senior leaders to the BJP, the 43-year-old leader focused on strengthening the party at the grassroots, reaching out to rural voters and women, while building alliances with regional parties.

He forged alliances with the Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad, CPI(M), CPI (ML), CPI and the All Party Hill Leaders Conference (APHLC).

The Congress went on to project him as the opposition’s chief ministerial face and gave him the Jorhat Assembly seat for his electoral debut in the Assembly polls.

He, however, devoted limited time to his constituency as he campaigned across the state for Congress and opposition candidates, but asserted that Jorhat is his hometown, where people have immense goodwill towards him and the party.

He has asserted on several occasions that the fight in the Assembly polls is between the politics of the Congress led by his father, the late Tarun Gogoi, and the Congress in the BJP led by Chief Minister Sarma.

“People are seeing how we are approaching politics. They remember the politics of my father, Tarun Gogoi, and how he brought Assam out of insurgency, restored peace and ensured financial stability. There is hope that such governance will return,” Gogoi had said.

He also said people expect the opposition to “clean up dirty politics of the past six to seven years, provide an alternative government and ensure industrial growth”, adding that these expectations would guide his priorities.

Close to both Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Gogoi’s oratorical skill came into prominence in Parliament when he tabled the no-confidence motion for the INDIA alliance against the BJP-led NDA on the government’s silence on Manipur violence.

He has been a member of several House committees and has been recently appointed by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla as chairperson of the India–Philippines Parliamentary Friendship Group.

A graduate in Electronics and Communication Engineering in 2004 from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi, Gogoi holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from New York University.

He is married to UK-born Elizabeth Clare Gogoi and has a son and a daughter.