Guwahati

Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) candidate Kunki Chowdhury was trailing behind BJP veteran Vijay Kumar Gupta in the Guwahati Central constituency, according to Election Commission trends.

Official data showed Gupta leading with 16,892 votes, while Chowdhury had secured 9,524 votes, giving the BJP candidate a margin of 7,368 votes after the third round of counting.

Chowdhury, a first-time candidate who came into the spotlight during the campaign, had drawn attention after a political controversy in which Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma reportedly made remarks and threatened legal action against her family over alleged beef consumption and other accusations. She had dismissed the allegations as baseless.

At 27, Chowdhury is the youngest AJP candidate in the 2026 Assam Assembly elections and is contesting the newly created Guwahati Central seat against 70-year-old BJP candidate Vijay Kumar Gupta.

With no previous organisational experience, she was fielded by AJP as a representative of youth within the opposition alliance. She is among only 59 women candidates in a total of 722 contestants in the state.

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Her campaign has been positioned as a contest between “continuity and change,” turning Guwahati Central into a closely watched generational battle in Assam politics.