Dibrugarh: The Tingkhong assembly constituency in Dibrugarh district is heading for a triangular contest on April 9, with the main battle set to be a direct clash between sitting BJP MLA and Assam cabinet minister Bimal Borah and Congress debutant Bipul Gogoi. JMM’s Mahabir Baske is the third candidate in the fray, though the contest is widely expected to be a straight fight between the two principal rivals.Bimal Borah is chasing a historic hat-trick, having won the Tingkhong seat in both 2016 and 2021. In 2016, he made history as the first BJP candidate to win from Tingkhong, unseating three-time sitting Congress MLA Atuwa Munda by a commanding margin of 18,338 votes — Borah polled 57,072 votes against Munda’s 38,734. He repeated the dominance in 2021, defeating Munda again by an even wider margin of 28,394 votes, garnering 62,675 votes against Munda’s 34,281.
“I have worked tirelessly for the people of Tingkhong for ten years and the results are there for everyone to see. Every road is blacktopped, every bridge is pucca — we have transformed this constituency from the ground up,” said Borah, who holds a cabinet portfolio in the Himanta Biswa Sarma government.Locals across the constituency broadly echo this sentiment. Tingkhong, which once had crumbling road infrastructure and relied heavily on bamboo and wooden bridges, has undergone a visible transformation over Borah’s two terms. Roads have been upgraded, pucca bridges have replaced rickety crossings, and overall civic infrastructure has improved substantially. However, one persistent challenge continues to haunt several pockets of the constituency — seasonal flooding and river erosion caused by the River Buridehing during the monsoon months, which residents say still demands urgent and lasting attention.Against this backdrop of incumbency and development, Congress has opted for a fresh face in 58-year-old Bipul Gogoi, who is contesting an assembly election for the first time. Congress hopes that a new candidate can energise the party’s base in a seat where it has a strong historical footprint, particularly among the substantial tea garden voter community.Munda, the three-time Congress MLA who lost to Borah twice, is not in the fray this time, removing the familiar face from Congress camp. Whether Bipul Gogoi, a non-tea tribe candidate can build a fresh coalition of voters — including the tea community that had long backed Munda — remains the central question of this election.Tingkhong has seen ten assembly elections since 1972. The INC has won five times, the BJP and AGP two times each, and the Janata Party once. After early wins by various parties, Atuwa Munda consolidated Congress dominance with wins in 1996, 2001 and 2011. The AGP broke through with Anup Phukan’s win in 2006 before Borah rewrote the constituency’s political script with back-to-back BJP victories in 2016 and 2021.As Tingkhong heads to the polls, the question is whether Bimal Borah’s development record can deliver a third straight mandate — or whether Congress, with a new face, can spring an upset in one of Dibrugarh district’s most keenly watched contests.
