Assam Assembly election 2021, Majuli profile: CM Sarbananda Sonowal wrested seat from Congress' Rajib Lochan Pegu in 2016

Majuli Assembly Election 2021 | Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal won the Majuli seat in the 2016 Assembly election with a margin of 18,923 votes. He had defeated Congress’ Rajib Lochan Pegu who had won the seat for three straight terms since 2001. Majuli is reserved under the Scheduled Tribe category. Both Sonowal and Pegu are back in the fray for the constituency, which has seen high-profile campaigning by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visiting the area. Also contesting from the seat are Bhaity Richong of SUCI (Communist), Sishudar Doley of the Assam Jatiya Parishad, and Independent candidate Purna Pegu. The constituency falls under the Lakhimpur Lok Sabha segment and is part of the Jorhat district. The Majuli constituency is expected to go to the polls on 27 March as part of the  first phase of the 2021 Assam Assembly election. Counting of votes will take place on 2 May.

Voter turnout in the previous elections

There are a total number of 1,14,572 registered voters in the constituency, of which 59,363 are men and 55,209 are women. The voter turnout in the 2016 election was 85.33 percent. In the 2011, the polling percentage in the chief minister’s constituency was 79.33 percent.

Past election results and winners

Sonowal defeated Pegu with 50.74 percent of the vote share in 2016. Pegu was the sitting MLA at the time of the 2016 polls. In the 2011 election, Pegu had secured 30,679 votes or 31.38 percent of the vote share. In 2011, the runner-up was the IND candidate Padmeswar Doley who won 23,691 votes. The Assam Assembly polls will be held to elect a total of 126 Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs).