Boko-Chaygaon covers the towns of Boko and Chaygaon, along with a large number of surrounding villages. It has a predominantly rural character with a large number of villages under its coverage and remains dominated by agrarian communities typical of central Assam’s Brahmaputra Valley plains.
Being a new constituency, Boko-Chaygaon has no assembly electoral history and voted for the first time in its new identity in the 2026 assembly elections. It participated for the first time in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, where the trend favoured the BJP. The BJP led the Congress in this segment by a large margin of 43,354 votes, with the BJP receiving 96,937 votes and Congress polling 53,583 votes.
The predecessor Boko constituency had participated in 15 assembly elections since its creation in 1951. Congress won on nine occasions, the AGP secured two wins, the Socialist Party, the Janata Party, an Independent and the AIUDF won the seat once each. In the 2011 election, Gopinath Das defeated the Congress candidate Jayanta Das by a margin of 10,691 votes, with the AGP placing third. In 2016, the Congress candidate Nandita Das defeated the AGP candidate Jyoti Prasad Das by a margin of 17,594 votes, with Gopinath Das of the AIUDF placing third. In 2021, Nandita Das retained her seat, winning by a margin of 52,466 votes against the AGP candidate Jyoti Prasad Das.
In the Boko segment of the Guwahati Lok Sabha constituency, Congress led against the BJP in 2009 by a margin of 23,608 votes. In 2014, Congress led again, this time against the AIUDF, by a margin of 13,505 votes. In 2019, Congress led against the BJP by a large margin of 37,641 votes.
The predecessor Chaygaon assembly constituency had participated in 12 assembly elections since its creation in 1967, with Congress winning on eight occasions, the AGP thrice and an Independent once. In the 2011 election, the Congress candidate Rekibuddin Ahmed defeated Dr. Kamla Kant Kalita of the AGP by a margin of 15,593 votes. In 2016, Ahmed retained his seat and defeated Dr. Kalita again, this time by a margin of 7,821 votes. In 2021, the result was the same: Rekibuddin Ahmed defeated the AGP candidate Dr. Kamala Kant Kalita, now by an even greater margin of 28,044 votes.
In the Chaygaon Assembly segment, Congress led against the BJP by a margin of 13,737 votes in 2009, 24,773 votes in 2014 and 32,375 votes in 2019.
The twist came in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The Congress’s long sway ended as the BJP surged to a lead of 43,354 votes over Congress in the Boko-Chaygaon Assembly segment.
The Boko-Chaygaon seat had 196,460 eligible voters on the final roll for the 2026 Assembly elections, witnessing a slight rise from 196,292 registered voters in 2024. For context, in 2021, there were 236,661 registered voters in the predecessor Boko (SC) constituency, and 192,597 registered voters in the predecessor Chaygaon constituency. Voter turnout was high in the 2024 election at 80.70 per cent, which increased to 82.92 per cent (provisional figure issued by the Election Commission) in 2026.
Demographics, based on available data largely from the 2011 Census, indicated a notable Muslim presence in both constituencies, with a majority in the predecessor Chaygaon constituency, along with about 8 per cent Scheduled Castes and 22 per cent Scheduled Tribes in the predecessor Boko constituency, and about 4 per cent Scheduled Castes and 22 per cent Scheduled Tribes in the predecessor Chaygaon constituency. Post delimitation, however, considering that the new Boko-Chaygaon constituency is an ST-reserved constituency, it can be assumed that the percentage of the ST population among the registered voters has grown.
The Boko-Chaygaon constituency covers parts of Kamrup district in central Assam with flat alluvial plains along the southern bank of the Brahmaputra River, interspersed with wetlands, beels (lakes), and gentle undulations. The terrain supports farming, fishing, and some horticulture, but is prone to seasonal flooding from the Brahmaputra and its tributaries. Livelihoods in Boko-Chaygaon depend mainly on paddy cultivation, fishing in wetlands, small trade, agriculture-related activities, and emerging services.
In recent years, the area has seen notable development, including the creation of the Boko-Chaygaon co-district in 2025, which has brought the local administrative offices closer to the people, the ongoing expansion of NH-17, improving connectivity to Guwahati, and the Chaygaon-Ukium road widening project. Chaygaon has also witnessed commercial growth with the arrival of multiple banks, retail chains and a Flipkart warehouse, while basic rural infrastructure and education facilities have been upgraded through state schemes. Infrastructure includes excellent road connectivity via National Highway 27, rail access at nearby stations like Guwahati or Rangiya (about 20-30 km away, depending on the village), and basic amenities with ongoing developments in rural roads, irrigation, and local markets.
Nearby towns include Guwahati to the east, about 50-65 km away. Key nearby areas include Sonapur (a census town) about 70-80 km to the east and the Khetri village area farther east.
The merger of the two constituencies with a thinner voter base post-delimitation suggest a big change in the voter demographics, which was reflected in this segment during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as the Muslim majority areas were made parts of the now Chamaria constituency. The huge lead of the BJP over Congress, something that neither the AGP nor the BJP accomplished earlier, set the stage for a keen contest for the Boko-Chaygaon constituency.
The BJP fielded Raju Mesh as its candidate while Congress nominated Ramen Singh Rabha to take him on. The other candidates include Ganseng B. Sangma (National People’s Party), Manoj Basumatary (UPPL), Bhoglal Rabha (Trinamool Congress) and two Independents, both women, Jamuna Rabha and Labanya Boro. The main contest was expected to be between the BJP and the Congress party, in which the BJP’s big lead over the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls has put the BJP ahead of the Congress in the race to win the first Assembly election in the reorganised Boko-Chaygaon constituency.
(Ajay Jha)
