Assam assembly polls: Two-time former CM Prafulla Kumar Mahanta squares off against former aide

Mahanta has enjoyed the privilege of being Barhampur MLA for five consecutive times. Will the trend continue?

Barhampur Assembly seat will see two-time former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, the president of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), who has represented the seat for five consecutive terms since 1991, try to ditch his "fading star" moniker. 

The seat, which went to polls on April 11, has 1,61,592 voters and saw a 83.87% turnout. 

Mahanta, the leader of the Assam movement and currently BJP's alliance partner in the state, will face off against AIUDF's Shariful Islam Siddique and Congress' Suresh Bora. 

Strengths: 

In 1995, Mahanta, now 64, became one of the youngest chief ministers of his time after his party, AGP, came to power. 

Since then, his political career has seen its ups and downs. 

However, despite his political graph in the larger politics of the state, Barhampur has sent him back as its MLA five consecutive times. 

In fact, he defeated Suresh Borah, who he faces again this time, in the 2011 Assembly polls. Mahanta will surely be looking for a repeat performance.

Weaknesses: 

According to analysts, Mahanta's long term as the MLA from the seat might have created a "powerful" anti-incumbency. 

This time around, according to election analysts, Mahanta faces a test of his relevance. 

The BJP-AGP alliance has also not been free of hurdles.

Before the current Assembly polls began, in March, angered by their parties' decision on seat sharing in the upcoming Assam assembly polls, a large section of local leaders and the workers of both the BJP and AGP across the Brahmaputra Valley burnt effigies of senior party leaders and threatened to put up independent candidates against the official nominee.

Additionally, according to reports, the ruling Congress has brought back the “secret killings” charge, citing findings of a report tabled back in 2007, against Mahanta back into the limelight. 

Another factor that could go against Mahanta is that, according to multiple reports, the general infrastructure, especially roads, in his constituency have been in a state of general disrepair. In an election where AGP's alliance partner, the BJP, is banking on "parivartan", this could prove to be Mahanta's undoing.