In one of the most high-profile defeats of the Assam Assembly Election 2026, Congress state president and Lok Sabha Deputy Leader of Opposition Gaurav Gogoi lost the Jorhat constituency to BJP veteran Hitendra Nath Goswami by a margin of over 23,000 votes, delivering a massive personal and political blow to the Congress party in the state.
The result from Jorhat was among the most keenly anticipated of the day.
Gogoi, son of the late and legendary Congress Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, had contested the seat riding on both his father's legacy and his own stature as one of the party's most prominent national faces. He had hoped that the Jorhat seat — part of the politically significant Upper Assam belt — would serve as a launchpad for the Congress-led Asom Sonmilito Morcha's challenge to the BJP-led NDA. However, it was not to be.
Goswami, a seasoned BJP leader who had been holding the seat, ran a commanding campaign throughout the constituency. After 12 rounds of counting, Goswami had built a lead of nearly 19,619 votes over Gogoi, with the gap widening further in subsequent rounds to cross the 23,000-vote mark by the time the final result was declared. BJP's Hitendra Nath Goswami won with 59,113 votes, underscoring the scale of the victory.
Photo Credit: ECI
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For Congress, the defeat of its state chief in his own constituency is a particularly bitter pill. Earlier in the day, Gogoi had struck a confident note, saying the party was keeping a close watch on all rounds of counting and had deployed observers across the state. The feedback from the ground, he had said, would be reflected in the results — a hope that the final tally decisively crushed.
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The BJP-led NDA, meanwhile, has comfortably crossed the majority mark of 64 in the 126-seat assembly, with Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma set for a third consecutive term.
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