Sarat Barkotoky (1 March 1935 – 30 October 2023) was an Indian politician from the state of

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

. He was a Member of

Assam Legislative Assembly The Assam Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Assam. It is housed in Guwahati, the capital city of Assam, geographically situated in present Western Assam region. The Legislative Assembly comprises 126 Me ...

for

Sonari Sonari (IPA: ˈsəʊnɑːrɪ) is a district Headquarter, mid-size town and a municipal board in newly announced Charaideo district (by Chief Minister Mr. Tarun Gogoi on 15 August 2015) in the Indian state of Assam. Tourist Destinations There ...

and Education minister. He was also a

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

in the

Hiteswar Saikia Hiteswar Saikia (3 October 1936 – 22 April 1996) was the chief minister of Assam for two terms, first from 28 February 1983 to 23 December 1985 and then from 30 June 1991 to 22 April 1996. Family and education Hiteswar Saikia was born on 3 ...

cabinet.

Early life and education

Barkotoky was born in Mathurapur,

on 1 March 1935 to Chandra Barkotoky and Chandra Probha Barkotoky. He had a B.T. Examination in the year 1970 from

Dibrugarh University Dibrugarh University is a collegiate public state university in the Indian state of Assam. It is located at Dibrugarh, Assam, India. It was set up in 1965 under the provisions of the Dibrugarh University Act, 1965 enacted by the Assam Legislat ...

. He also had a

B.A Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

Political career

Barkotoky was the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

candidate for the constituency of Sonari in the 1991 Assam Legislative Assembly election. His predecessor,

Bhadreswar Buragohain Bhadreswar Buragohain (1947 – 26 February 2020) was an Indian politician from Assam belonging to Asom Gana Parishad. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha and Assam Legislative Assembly. He also served as the deputy speaker of the Assam Legislati ...

, did not seek reelection and became a

Rajya Sabha MP A Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha (abbreviated: MP) is the representative of the Indian states to the one of the two houses of the Parliament of India (Rajya Sabha). Rajya Sabha MPs are elected by the electoral college of the elected ...

. Barkotoky received 38877 votes, 57.96% of the total vote and became the new MLA for

. He defeated his nearest opponent by 23491 votes. He was made a minister of state in the

cabinet. After Saikia died, he retained his role as

minister of state Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

in the short

Barman A bartender (also known as a barkeep, barman, barmaid, or a mixologist) is a person who formulates and serves alcoholic or soft drink beverages behind the bar, usually in a licensed establishment as well as in restaurants and nightclubs, but ...

ministry. Barkotoky sought reelection in the 1996 Assam Legislative Assembly election. He received 52052 votes, 61.8% of the total vote and defeated his nearest opponent by 31464 votes. Barkotoky was again a candidate in the 2001 Assam Legislative Assembly election. He received 59554 votes, 67.25%. He defeated his nearest opponent by 34941 votes. He was made minister for the Public Works Department in the 2001 Tarun Gogoi cabinet. As PWD minister, Barkotoky implemented a Mega project for development of road and drainage of Assam, spending 50

crore A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is e ...

. In the

2006 Assam Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly elections were held in Assam in two phases between 3 and 10 April 2006 to elect members from all 126 constituencies of the state . Following the election, the incumbent Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi formed his second ministry. ...

, Barkotoky sought reelection. He received 56206 votes, defeating his nearest opponent by 34990 votes. When Tarun Gogoi constituted his new ministry, Barkotoky was not included. In the

2011 Assam Legislative Assembly election The 13th Assam Legislative Assembly election was held in two phases on 4 and 11 April 2011 to elect members from 126 constituencies in Assam, India. The result was announced on 13 May. BJP was accused of turning the anti-immigrant feeling in Ass ...

, he sought reelection in

. He received 56655 votes, 53.38% of the total vote. He defeated his nearest opponent by 28904 votes. After a cabinet reshuffle in the Tarun Gogoi ministry, on 23 January 2015 Barkotoky was made Education minister in Assam. He spoke with the Chief Minister when he said the education was the priority in Assam. He also requested that

Smriti Irani Smriti Zubin Irani (''née'' Malhotra; born 23 March 1976) is an Indian politician and a former television actress and producer. She is a Minister in Union Cabinet of India since May 2019 currently administrating the Ministries of Women and C ...

organise state grants for universities. In the

2016 Assam Legislative Assembly election The Assam Legislative Assembly Election of 2016 was held in two phases, on 4 and 11 April 2016, to elect members of the 126 constituencies in Assam, a state in North-eastern India. The overall voter turnout was 84.72%, which set a new record for ...

, Barkotoky sought reelection as the Congress candidate for Sonari. He received 49210 votes, 37.47% pf the total vote. He lost to BJP candidate, Topon Kumar Gogoi, by 24117 votes. He was one of 10 cabinet ministers who lost in the election.

Personal life and death

Barkotoky married Bina Barkotoky on 5 June 1965 and they had 3 children; two sons and one daughter. He was interested in sports like

Table Tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

, Carrom etc. He was associated with various political and cultural organisations. He was also Vice Chairman of the State Planning Board from 2006 and Chairman of the Committee on Estimates, ALA from 2010. Sharat Barkatki died on 30 October, at the age of 88. He had been undergoing treatment at GMCH from 16 October.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barkotoky, Sarat 1935 births 2023 deaths Assam MLAs 1991–1996 Assam MLAs 1996–2001 Assam MLAs 2001–2006 Assam MLAs 2006–2011 Assam MLAs 2011–2016 Assam politicians Indian National Congress politicians from Assam State cabinet ministers of Assam People from Charaideo district