In the first round of voting in the Northeast, Union Ministers and past Chief Ministers are competing

Two Union Ministers of the NDA administration and one former chief minister are in line to have their fates sealed within ballot boxes on April 19 during the first round of voting.

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju is one of the candidates running for the Arunachal West seat, and he is a strong contender.

Rijiju is a seasoned statesman who has served his district for three terms in a row from 2004. Commanding a Cabinet portfolio in Earth and Sciences under the NDA administration till 2023, but Nabam Tuki, the current head of the Arunachal Pradesh Congress and a former chief minister, stands in his way, preparing the ground for a titanic showdown.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal sets out to recover his political legacy in the Dibrugarh election maelstrom.

After running as an Asom Gana Parishad member for the Dibrugarh Lok Sabha seat from 2004 to 2009, Sonowal’s career took a sharp turn when he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and eventually rose to the position of chief minister in Assam.

In the middle of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Lurinjyoti Gogoi of the Assam Jatiya Parishad, a well-known participant in the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act demonstrations, presents a serious threat to Sonowal, setting up an exciting electoral contest.

In between these high-profile conflicts, attention turns to Jorhat, a historically significant constituency that is evocative of Amethi’s political battlegrounds in Assam.

Here, BJP’s incumbent MP Topon Gogoi and Congress deputy leader Gaurav Gogoi square off in a heated debate driven by political intensity and cunning. In the context of recent occurrences, such as the unveiling of a 125-meter-long statue of the legendary Ahom general Lachit Barphukan by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jorhat assumes political significance, its legacy entwined with the rich tapestry of Assamese history and culture.

Beyond the boundaries of Assam, the election campaign has spread to the scenic hills of Shillong, where Congressman Vincent Pala is preparing for a contest against Nationalist People’s Party candidate Ampareen Lyngdoh, BJP alliance partner.

As people get ready to cast their votes in a historic act of civic duty, the election battlegrounds come to life with the sounds of democracy against the background of mist-covered peaks and gushing waterfalls.

In the unrest-plagued state of Manipur, elections will also be held in two seats: the inner and outer. Additionally, votes will be cast for Mizoram’s and Nagaland’s lone seats.

An ideological fight is expected to unfold in Tripura when state Congress President Ashish Kumar Saha, a candidate from the INDIA group, faces off against former chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb of the BJP in the Tripura West Lok Sabha seat.