Chabua Assembly constituency, established in 1978, witnessed 10 Assembly elections. Congress won five times, AGP twice, Janata Party, an Independent and BJP once each. The Lok Sabha polls in the Chabua Assembly segment saw the BJP lead in two consecutive parliamentary polls, while the Congress led in 2009. Scheduled Castes formed 6.70 per cent and Scheduled Tribes 4.67 per cent of the voters, while Muslims had a minuscule presence in the Chabua constituency. It had 91.96 per cent rural and 8.04 per cent urban voters.
The Lahowal Assembly seat, established in 1957, participated in 14 Assembly elections. Congress won the seat 11 times, the BJP twice and an Independent once. The Lok Sabha polls saw the Congress lead once in 2009, and the BJP twice in 2014 and 2019. Scheduled Castes were 3.49 per cent, Scheduled Tribes 5.98 per cent, and Muslims 7.20 per cent of its voters. It was a purely rural seat with no urban voters on its rolls.
Both Chabua and Lahowal witnessed robust voter turnout. Chabua-Lahowal had 177,238 eligible voters in the final roll for the 2026 Assembly elections, up from 173,877 in 2024. Before the two constituencies were merged in 2023, Chabua had 159,383 voters in 2021, and Lahowal had 152,562 voters. In 2019, it stood at 149,460 in Chabua and 139,208 in Lahowal, in 2016, 134,848 in Chabua and 126,297 in Lahowal, and in 2011, 132,976 in Chabua and 118,123 in Lahowal. In 2024, the Chabua-Lahowal Assembly constituency recorded 81.87 per cent turnout. The BJP led the Congress party by 33,939 votes.
Chabua has a rich history as a key airbase for the Allied Forces during World War II and continues to serve as a strategic base for the Indian Air Force due to its location near China. The town is surrounded by tea gardens and remains an important military and aviation centre. Lahowal is a semi-urban area with agricultural and trade activities. The two towns are separated by about 18 km by road and lie close to Dibrugarh and Tinsukia cities.
The constituency covers parts of Dibrugarh district, with flat alluvial plains typical of the Brahmaputra Valley. The terrain supports tea estates, paddy farming and small trade but is prone to seasonal flooding. Major rivers include the Brahmaputra flowing nearby to the north, and smaller tributaries influencing local water needs.
Livelihoods in Chabua-Lahowal depend mainly on tea cultivation, paddy farming, small trade and agriculture-related activities. Tea gardens provide significant employment, while rice cultivation remains the main source of income for rural families. In Chabua, military and aviation-related jobs add to economic diversity. Fertile soils and abundant rainfall sustain these activities. Infrastructure includes road connectivity via National Highway 15 and state roads linking to Dibrugarh and Tinsukia. Rail access is available at nearby stations like Dibrugarh or Moran, about 20-30 km away. Basic amenities serve the towns and villages, with ongoing developments in the tea sector, rural roads and military facilities.
The district headquarters, Dibrugarh, is about 30-35 km from Chabua and 45- 50 km from Lahowal. Other nearby towns include Tinsukia, about 40 km north from Chabua, Moran, about 20 km south from Lahowal, and Naharkatia eastward. State capital, Dispur/Guwahati, lies around 450-480 km southwest. Arunachal Pradesh is farther east.
The once Congress bastion, Chabua-Lahowal, has become an unknown quantity due to its drastically changed voter demography and boundaries. While the Election Commission justified the merger of the two constituencies in the 2023 delimitation to better distribution of voters across Assam’s 126 Assembly constituencies, there were allegations that it was done to change the basic character of the Congress strongholds. Whatever the reason, the fact remains that the BJP led Congress by a big margin in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, though the BJP had led in both these Assembly segments in the 2014 and 2019 general elections as well. It is difficult to guess who would have the upper hand when this newly created constituency votes for the first time in the 2026 Assembly elections. All that is certain is that none of these parties will carry the tag of the favourite party, and the upcoming election could become a close affair as the contest is expected to be intriguing.
(Ajay Jha)
