By Bhupen Goswami

Guwahati : In a shocking incident, Lakhimpur Lok Sabha Congress candidate Anil Borgohain has been attacked by some unknown miscreants. At first Borgohain had been admitted to AMCH, however, now has been shifted to Aditya Hospital. According to reports, unidentified miscreants pelted stones at the candidate while returning from an election campaign in Jonai. Breaking the glass of the XUV Borgohain had been travelling in, the stones hit him. Pertaining to the incident, Congress supporters block roads in Silapathar’s Silaxuti igniting a chaotic situation. Gana Shakti and BJP has been alleged of being behind the deed.The campaigning for Lakhimpur has been going on in full swing with BJP and Congress addressing the CAB issue in contrasting ways. While the ruling party is refraining from talking much about it, the Congress campaign is centred on the law proposed by the Narendra Modi government. The BJP is hoping to get total support from the Hindi-Bengali voters and the tea labourers in the area due to various schemes which have been implemented in the region to woo the tea commun.ity. Moreover, it hopes to retain the Lakhimpur seat with its allies Gana Shakti having a strong presence in the region. On the other hand Anil Borgohain, who is an established businessman, is not a known face in the area. But the Congress is trying to woo the voters with its firm stand against the CAB. According to the party, because of its efforts, the Bill was not introduced in the Rajya Sabha despite it being passed in the Lok Sabha on January 8. The Lakhimpur seat was vacated by BJP’s Sarbananda Sonowal in 2016 after he was chosen to lead the state government. Pradan Baruah replaced Sonowal as the BJP’s candidate to win the by-poll in 2016. Sonowal had swept the seat with 612,543 votes (55.05%) out of the total 1,111,975 votes. Similarly, during the by-poll elections, Pradan Baruah won with 5,51,663 votes (54.87%) while the runner up was Congress’ Hema Hari Prasanna Pegu with 3,61,444 votes. Lakhimpur Lok Sabha constituency covers nine assembly segments viz Majuli (ST), Naoboicha, Lakhimpur, Dhakukhana (ST), Dhemaji (ST), Jonai (ST), Chauba, Doom Dooma and Sadiya. It has a total of 16,81,434 electorates out of which 8,24,870 are females and 8,56,511 are males and 53 belong to the third gender according to Election Commission of India 2019 reports. Congress’s chances look dim with 5 BJP MLAs in Lakhimpur constituency Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) tend to play the role of vanguard during the Lok Sabha elections as parties with most MLAs in a parliamentary constituency have first-mover advantage over others. They not only have the manpower at their disposal, but can also quickly help in changing the tide through active or passive participation where the margins are thin. We have tried to understand how the parties stand against each other when it comes to MLA representation in the Lakhimpur Lok Sabha seat in Assam. Out of the nine assembly segments in the constituency, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had secured important leads in five with MLAs from the ruling party elected from Majuli, Dhakuakhana, Dhemaji, Chabua and Sadiya. While Congress only has one MLA representing the Doom Dooma assembly, Naoboicha, Lakhimpur and Jonai segments have MLAs belonging to the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Independent candidates respectively.