Dibrugarh: The Sadiya assembly constituency in Tinsukia district is set for a gripping electoral contest as sitting BJP MLA Bolin Chetia locks horns once again with his long-standing rival Jagadish Bhuyan of Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP). With three Independent candidates — Lalit Deori, Dilip Bura Gohain and Abraham Tirkey — also in the fray, all eyes are on a seat that has been the theatre of some of Assam’s most keenly contested electoral battles over the decades.At 56, Bolin Chetia is no stranger to the Sadiya electorate. A four-time MLA from the constituency, Chetia has demonstrated a remarkable ability to adapt across political formations. He won twice on Congress tickets in 2006 and 2011, switched to BJP and has since won back-to-back in 2016 and 2021.
His opponent, 59-year-old Jagadish Bhuyan of AJP, is no pushover either. A former AGP stalwart, Bhuyan won the Sadiya seat in 1996 and narrowly defeated Chetia in 2001 by a razor-thin margin of just 196 votes — one of the closest finishes in the constituency’s history. However, Bhuyan’s subsequent electoral journey has been a story of near-misses. He lost to Chetia in 2006 by 2,794 votes and again in 2011 by 6,867 votes, when the two contested for rival parties. In 2021, running on an AJP ticket, Bhuyan finished a distant third with 29,849 votes as Chetia romped home with a commanding margin of 22,084 votes over second-placed Lakhin Chandra Chetia.“I have served the people of Sadiya for decades, through different parties and different times. The people here know me and trust me, and I will continue to work for their welfare,” Chetia said, exuding confidence ahead of the polls. Countering Chetia’s claim, rival candidate Jagadish Bhuyan said, “The people of Sadiya are tired of broken promises. The issues of flood, erosion and poor road connectivity have plagued this constituency for decades. People want a change,” Bhuyan said.The key issues dominating the electoral discourse in Sadiya are deeply familiar to its residents — devastating annual floods, relentless riverbank erosion along the Brahmaputra and its tributaries and inadequate road connectivity in the interior areas. These challenges have persisted across successive governments and administrations, and voters say they want concrete action, not just assurances.“Every year the floods destroy our homes and fields. Roads in many interior villages are still in a terrible state. We want candidates who will actually do something about it, not just make promises during elections,” said Bogen Gogoi, a local resident.A look at the broader electoral history of Sadiya highlights the constituency’s volatile nature. In the ten elections held since 1978, the seat has changed hands multiple times — Congress has won four times, AGP three times, BJP twice and CPM once, with the inaugural 1978 contest won by CPM’s Bipin Hazarika. The chequered history reflects an electorate that has rarely been loyal to any single party for long.With Chetia banking on incumbency, development work and his personal voter connect, and Bhuyan hoping to channelise anti-incumbency and regional sentiment through the AJP, the Sadiya contest promises to be fiercely competitive.As polling day approaches, all eyes will be on Sadiya to see whether Chetia adds yet another chapter to his extraordinary political story, or whether Bhuyan finally completes his long quest to reclaim a seat he last held over two decades ago.
