The prestigious Titabor Assembly constituency has traditionally returned Congress candidates since Independence, except once, and this time too Congress candidate and Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has an edge over his challenger - young BJP Jorhat MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa.
Titabor in Jorhat district has elected Tarun Gogoi consecutively since 2001 after his brother Dip Gogoi vacated the seat for him.
Gogoi's rival 40-year-old BJP candidate Kamakhya Prasad Tasa is trying his luck in the Assembly election after scoring a huge success in the 2014 Lok Sabha election in which he defeated six-time Congress MP and former Union minister late B K Handique from the Jorhat Lok Sabha constituency.
Nestled amidst lush green tea gardens, Titabor has a predominant Ahom and tea tribe population who are traditional Congress supporters though in some pockets their loyalty has shifted to the BJP in recent years.
The anti-incumbency factor notwithstanding, the chief minister is confident about retaining the seat which has been held by the Congress since Independence barring once in 1996 when it was wrested by the AGP.
"I am overwhelmed by the love and support of the large number of people who came out during the filing of my nomination and also in the election rally that I addressed here," Gogoi said.
Titabor is also the headquarter of the Thengal Kachari Autonomous Council with the community expected to throw their weight behind the Chief Minister.
The Thengal Kacharis are very grateful to the chief minister for ensuring the creation of the Autonomous Council and for initiating several development projects in the constituency," the chief minister's campaign manager, Kamal Kachari, said.
Earlier, there was hardly any road, but during the last
15 years various projects have been undertaken and the area was now better connected, Kachari said.
Issues of farmers, students, youths, women, senior citizens and labourers have been the chief minister's prime concern and he has always ensured that his constituency is properly taken care of, he said.
"Our chief minister is very popular for executing various schemes for health, education, tractors, bicycles, old-age pension, housing, employment of youths and income generation programme for women and there is no doubt that he will represent us for the fourth time too," he added.
The BJP, on the other hand, is making all-out efforts to ensure Tasa's win by projecting him as a potential giant-slayer, highlighting his youth against Gogoi's advancing age and luring voters with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's promise of ensuring development.
"The party's decision to field the Lok Sabha MP against the chief minister has been welcomed by the people of the constituency and it is now our responsibility to ensure his win," BJP Titabor block president Paresh Bordoloi said.
The anti-incumbency factor will work against the chief minister while "Modiji's vision for Assam's development along with his promise to improve the condition of tea garden workers will help the BJP to win the seat," he said.
Moreover, the winning margin of the Congress in all elections - Assembly, Parliament and local bodies - has been declining steadily since 2006. In the civic polls last year, the BJP won three of the eight seats and in two seats, it lost by just five votes.
"There is a wave for 'parivartan' or change in Assam and the people are generally unhappy with the Congress government in the state," Tasa's brother Ashwini Tasa said.
There are six candidates in fray in this prestigious constituency which includes, besides the two heavyweights, an independent woman candidate Nang Sritirekha Shyam, CPI's Kula Das, Bharatiya Vikas Manch's Biren Gogoi and another independent Dilip Gogoi.
An electorate of 1,36,033, including 66,907 women, will decide the fate of these candidates in 165 polling stations.
