Gaurav Gogoi in a prestige fight in Jorhat, on the other side, Himanta Biswa Sarma leads the fight

It is a sultry afternoon and a group of tea garden workers are seated before Congress’s Jorhat Lok Sabha candidate Gaurav Gogoi. “Today, I am not in an assembly but among members of my home. So, I will not give you lengthy sermons,” Gogoi tells the crowd at the Mejenga tea estate in Titabor.

This is the first time that the two-time MP is contesting from Jorhat in upper Assam. Gaurav’s family’s pocket borough Kaliabor — it was represented for nearly three decades by his father and former Assam CM Tarun Gogoi, uncle Dip Gogoi, and then him — was redrawn, transformed, and renamed Kaziranga in last year’s delimitation of parliamentary and Assembly constituencies. There was initially uncertainty over where Gaurav — currently one of the most prominent parliamentarians from the Northeast and the Deputy Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha — would contest but the party ultimately fielded him from Jorhat.

While the constituency may be new to him as a candidate, it is another familiar one for his family. Tarun Gogoi was elected Jorhat MP thrice from 1971 onwards and he represented Titabor, one of the constituent Assembly segments, from 2001 till he passed away in 2020, and was Chief Minister for three of those terms.

In what has shaped up to be the most keenly watched contest of the five Upper Assam seats for which voting will take place on Friday, Gogoi is leaning on his father’s legacy. The contest has become a prestige battle, a two-way fight between Gaurav and sitting MP Topon Gogoi of the BJP. The BJP leader is also a former MLA of Sonari, one of the Assembly segments of the parliamentary seat.

The BJP, including Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who has a history of bad blood with Gaurav, has left no stone unturned. Sarma