5 Facts About Sarbananda Sonowal, BJP Candidate From Assam's Dibrugarh

Mr Sonowal was born on October 31, 1962, in Dibrugarh to Jibeswar Sonowal and Dineswari Sonowal. After attending Don Bosco High School, Mr Sonowal graduated from Dibrugarh Hanumanbax Surajmall Kanoi College with a BA in English. He also has an LLB from Dibrugarh University.

Mr Sonowal began his political journey in student politics. He was president of the powerful All Assam Students' Union (AASU) from 1992 to 1999. He later joined the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and was elected MLA from Moran constituency in 2001.

He won the Lok Sabha elections from Dibrugarh in 2004, becoming the first non-Congress candidate to win the seat. In the 2024 polls, he will face Lurinjyoti Gogoi of the Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), the consensus candidate of the Opposition alliance United Opposition Forum Assam (UOFA), and Aam Aadmi Party's Manoj Dhanowar. Like Mr Sonowal, Lurinjyoti Gogoi also has a background in student politics and was an office-bearer in AASU.

Mr Sonowal played an important role in the issue of illegal migrants by going to the Supreme Court. In 2005, the court passed a judgment, declaring the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act as unconstitutional. Till 2005, whether a person is a foreigner or an Indian in Assam was decided by the IMDT Act, where the onus of proving the citizenship of the accused was on the state. Mr Sonowal is fondly known as "Jatiya Nayak" for his fight against illegal migration.

Mr Sonowal joined the BJP in 2011, and quickly rose through the ranks, serving as the party's Assam unit president and then becoming a member of the national executive. In 2016, he was sworn in as the first Chief Minister of Assam from the BJP. In the 2021 assembly elections, Mr Sonowal was re-elected from Majuli. Despite the BJP's victory, Mr Sonowal resigned as chief minister and proposed Himanta Biswa Sarma's name as his successor. Mr Sonowal is currently the Minister of Ports, Shipping, Waterways, and AYUSH.