Assam's longest MLA Phani Bhusan Choudhury begins Lok Sabha journey

Assam’s longest-serving MLA for eight consecutive terms, Asom Gana Parishad’s Phani Bhusan Choudhury on Tuesday won Lok Sabha elections from Barpeta constituency in Assam as a ruling alliance member.

Choudhury, who has been an MLA from Bongaigaon legislative constituency in Assam Assembly since 1985, tasted victory in Lok Sabha elections in his second attempt. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, when AGP had no alliance with any other party, the MLA came fourth in Barpeta.

This time, Choudhury received 8,60,113 votes against 6,37,762 votes of his nearest rival Deep Bayan from Congress. He won by a margin of 2,22,351 votes.

The Barpeta constituency has changed its characteristics over the years and after the delimitation exercise last year, it became a Hindu majority seat from Muslim-dominated earlier.

Prior to voting in Barpeta, which took place in the third phase on May 7, the AGP leader in an interview with PTI had said that Hindu voters becoming the majority in the constituency after delimitation would favour him in sailing through the race comfortably.

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There are nearly 19.8 lakh voters in Barpeta, a religiously and linguistically sensitive place, and over 12 lakh of them are Hindu and around seven lakh are Muslim electors.

Because of this factor, Congress denied a ticket to its sitting MP Abdul Khaleque and nominated Bayan, who is chief of state Seva Dal.

Choudhury, the 72-year-old politician, is famous for living a simple life and carries a clean image so far. He held several portfolios during the second AGP government (1996-2001) and the first BJP government (2016-2021) with the regional party as its partner.

Though AGP is still a member of the ruling BJP-led government in Assam and has two ministers, Choudhury has not been offered any ministerial berth this time.

After AGP had broken its ties with BJP over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in January 2019, Choudhury cried profusely while disembarking from Bongaigaon railway station on his return from Guwahati and the image went viral.

However, the AGP returned to the NDA fold within just two months and fought the Lok Sabha polls in Assam in alliance with the saffron party in 2019.