Golaghat is an assembly constituency in Assam and is located in Golaghat district. It falls under Kaliabor Lok Sabha Constituency. The city of Golaghat is known to be one of the largest sub-divisions of Assam. It functions as the headquarter of the district and also as a twin city to Jorhat, which is 55 kilometers away. The town covers a total area of 7.32 square kilometers. Its official language is Assamese. It is one of the earliest areas of Assam which underwent urbanisation. The formation and launch of Assam's first major political party, which is the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), came about in this very city in 1985 at the historic Golaghat Convention.
Golaghat constituency falls under Kaliabor Lok Sabha Constituency. The Assam Legislative Assembly comprises 126 assembly constituencies, out of which Golaghat bears the number 95.
Kaliabor Lok Sabha Constituency comprises of assembly constituencies, namely Golaghat (95), Sarupathar (94), Dergaon (97), Bokakhat (93), Dhing (83), Batadroba (84), Rupohihat (85), Samaguri (88), Kaliabor (89), and Khumtai (96). The present elected Member of Parliament representing Kaliabor Lok Sabha Constituency is Gaurav Gogoi.
Golaghat Assembly Constituency is located in Upper Assam in Golaghat district which has its administrative headquarters located at Golaghat city. The district's population is 10,66,88 of which 5,43,161 are males and 5,23,727 are females. The main languages that are spoken in Golaghat district are Assamese, Bengali and Hindi.
The only city under Golaghat constituency is Golaghat city. It is one of the earliest areas of Assam which underwent urbanisation.
Golaghat has about 312 villages. Major villages are Amguri, Ahom Gaon, Dharampur, and Narayanpur.
There is currently no MLA in Golaghat since Ajanta Neog who was with the Indian National Congress, resigned from the party and joined BJP in December 2020.
Credit: @AjantaNeog
As per the report of Census India 2011, Golaghat Assembly Constituency has a total population of 259,354, out of which 16.19% is urban and 83.81% is rural.
There are about 70,432 houses in Golaghat.
Golaghat has water facilities of Over Hand Tank (OHT) and tap water. The residents of Golaghat also have tube wells, boreholes and handpumps. There is also an availability of fire-fighting facilities in the town.
There is domestic electrification in Golaghat. There is also industrial and commercial electrification and road lighting at a few points in Golaghat.
While Golaghat town itself functions as a municipality, the basic civic infrastructure is maintained by Golaghat Municipal Corporation.
Golaghat comprises a few religious groups which are Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and Buddhists. Hindus are a majority in the constituency which makes up at least 77% of the constituency. Golaghat's population mainly comprises Assamese and Bengali communities.
In Golaghat Assembly Constituency, the ratio of the Scheduled Caste (SC) is 5.35 and the ratio of the Scheduled Tribe (ST) is 10.78.
The only major city in Golaghat Assembly Constitution is Golaghat. The city is divided into 13 wards for which elections are conducted every year.
The overall electorate in the constituency is 169,940, of which 86,834 are males and 83,106 are females.
Golaghat's sex ratio is 952 per 1000 male.
In Golaghat, the overall count of children aged between 0-6 is 4212 which constitutes 10.03% of the overall population.
The Lok Sabha election of 2019 witnessed a polling percentage of 76.22% in the constituency. However, the polling percentage in the 2016 assembly election was 83.94%.
In 1991, Nagen Neog of the Indian National Congress had won the assembly seat. In the following election of 1996, he was dethroned by Atul Bora of Asom Gana Parishad. The INC gained back their power in the constituency with the victory of Ajanta Neog in the Assam Assembly elections of 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016. However, Ajanta Neog joined BJP in December 2020.
In the Assam Assembly elections of 2016, Ajanta Neog of the Indian National Congress won with 50.16% of the total votes, closely followed by Bitupan Saikia of Bharatiya Janata Party with a total of 46.62% of the overall votes. Syed Jahid Abdullah of All India United Democratic Front and Dipankar Das secured 1.22% and 0.81% of the overall votes, respectively. However, 1.16% of the votes were awarded to the option "None of the above".
In the Assam Assembly elections of 2016, the candidates who contested the elections are Ajanta Neog of the Indian National Congress (INC), Bitupan Saikia of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Syed Jahid Abdullah of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), and Dipankar Das, an independent candidate. In the end, Ajanta Neog of INC emerged as the winner with 73862 votes, while Bitupan Saikia of BJP was the runner-up with 68649 votes.
Credit: newindianexpress.com
Ajanta Neog built the college building of Doyang College, Golaghat, by means of the MLA fund. She also presented paper plate machines to self-help groups, working towards a self-reliant Golaghat. She gave away tractors to farmers of the scheduled community.