Lok Sabha Elections 2024: 5 Facts About Gaurav Gogoi, Congress Candidate From Assam's Jorhat

Gaurav Gogoi was born on September 4, 1982, to Tarun Gogoi and Dolly Gogoi. He studied at St Columba's School in Delhi. He has a BTech in Electrical Engineering from Delhi's Indraprastha University. He also has a Master's degree in Public Administration from New York University.

Despite his father being the longest-serving Chief Minister of Assam, Gaurav Gogoi didn't join politics right away. Initially, he worked at Airtel before joining a Delhi-based NGO, Pravah, which works with young people on issues of social justice.

The 2014 Lok Sabha elections marked Gaurav Gogoi's debut in politics. He contested from Kaliabor, a seat first represented by his father, and then his uncle Dip Gogoi. Gaurav Gogoi defeated his closest rival Mrinal Kumar Saikia of the BJP. In the last decade or so, Gaurav Gogoi has been one of the youth faces of the Congress and is often seen raising important questions in parliament.

In 2019, while the BJP returned to power with an even bigger majority, Mr Gogoi retained his Kaliabor seat. In the past five years, he has emerged as one of the most vocal critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leading a "no-confidence motion" against the BJP and questioning the government's alleged "silence" on the Manipur violence.

For the Lok Sabha elections 2024, Gaurav Gogoi was forced to move to Jorhat from his traditional seat of Kaliabor after it ceased to exist and a new constituency Kaziranga was created after the delimitation exercise in August last year. In Jorhat, Gaurav Gogoi will be up against BJP's Topon Kumar Gogoi, who defeated Congress candidate Sushanta Borgohain by over 80,000 votes in 2019.