 "Rajib Lochan Pegu and Sarbananda Sonowal")
The seat has 1,14,516 registered voters and saw a 83.35% voter turnout, with women voters leading the way in percentage terms.
A riverine island in the Bramaputra river, Majuli falls in the Lakhimpur Lok Sabha constituency and is considered the epicentre of Assam's Vaishnavite movement.
Strengths:
Pegu has won from Majuli for three consecutive terms.
Pegu hails from the Mishing community and out of Majuli’s 1.14 lakh electorate nearly 43,000 are Mishing voters.
Weaknesses:
One of the biggest threats facing the island is erosion. The area of the island in the Brahmaputra has shrunk from over 1,200 square kilometre in 1901 to approximately 540 square kilometre at present.
Little seems to have been done to mitigate the effects of erosion on the island by the state or local administration.
Pegu also has to contend with his failure to build the ling-awaited bridge connecting Majuli with Jorhat, the district headquarters.
On the other hand, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government had in February this year laid the foundation stone for a bridge connecting Majuli with Jorhat.
Sonowal, for his part, might well prove to be a formidable opponent.
Sonowal, who is also Union Minister for Sports & Youth Affairs, contested and won from Lakhimpur in the last Lok Sabha elections.
Additionally, he secured the highest number of votes from the Majuli Assembly constituency.
Sonowal has also been focusing on the river island's development since he became a Union minister.
Furthermore, the state BJP head is is credited with the party’s victory in seven of the 14 seats in Assam, increasing the BJP’s vote share in Assam to 35% in the 2014 polls.
While Sonowal does not have the Mishing card to play on, in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Sonowal had polled nearly 47,000 votes, giving him a clear lead of 27,000 votes over the Congress.
The strong anti-incumbency against Pegu along with Sonowal’s vow to turn the island into a global tourist destination could very well sink Congress’ ship in this particular constituency.
An analysis of the voter turnout reveals that Majuli saw an 80% turnout, including those areas which are accessible only by boat. The high turnout might have Pegu concerned.
According to reports, “Psephologists and those who have studied Assam elections say the high turnout has the Congress worried. It is a fact that low turnout has always gone in favour of the Congress, especially during the days of insurgency in the state.”
