Assam assembly election 2026: High-profile battles in Jalukbari, Dispur and Jorhat

The General Election to the Legislative Assembly of Assam is scheduled to be held on April 9, 2026. Roughly 2.5 crore voters will poll in one phase, and the results will be declared on May 4 to decide the fate of a total of 722 candidates. Indian National Congress fielded the highest number of candidates, 99, followed by the Bharatiya Janata Party, 90. The voting will take place for 126 seats across 31,486 polling stations.

Stronghold of the BJP and the Congress

In 2021 BJP won 60 seats with 33.21 per cent of the votes, and the Congress won 29 seats with a vote share of 29.67 per cent. The urban centres of upper Assam, like Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, and Charaideo was the stronghold of the BJP. It won 10 out of the 12 seats in these three districts. Following the 2023 delimitation exercise, the total number of seats increased to 14 across these three districts.

BJP performed well in the hill areas; it secured all five seats in the hill districts of Karbi Anglong, West Karbi Anglong, and Dima Hasao. BJP also did exceptionally well in the Central Assam area, Sonitpur, Biswanath, Lakhimpur, and Dhemaji, which consisted of 17 seats, of which the BJP won 14. In fact, the tea tribes belt of Upper Assam, Central Assam and Barak Valley was key to securing the second consecutive victory for BJP led NDA alliance, winning 33 out of the 40 seats.

Congress, on the other hand, found success in the lower Assam minority belt districts like Dhubri, Goalpara, and Barpeta, the Central Assam minority belt Nagaon, Marigaon and Hoja and the Barak Valley in Karimganj and Hailakandi. Congress won 20 out of the 46 seats in the minority belt, whereas its alliance AIUDF won 16. Congress won a total of 29 seats, 25 of which were held by minority candidates. Following the 2023 delimitation, the total number of minority decisive or minority majority seats was reduced from approximately 35 to 22–24.

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Key constituencies to watch

In Jalukbari, the Chief Minister's bastion, Himanta Biswa Sharma is the overwhelming favourite for victory. Pradyut Bordholoi, a veteran leader and former Congress MP who recently joined the BJP, is the favourite to win in the capital of Assam, Dispur. Gaurav Gogoi, son of former CM Tarun Gogoi and the Congress's projected CM face, is making his assembly debut in Jorhat. He is facing a five-term BJP veteran, Hitendra Nath Goswami, who is known for his clean image and deep local roots. In Sivsagar, the "rebel" activist and anti-establishment leader Akhil Gogoi, who won the election in 2021 from Jail is contesting Kushal Dowari of BJP and Prodip Hazarika of AGP.

In the Halflong constituency of Dima Hasao district, an interesting battle will take place between Rupali Langthasa, currently a Member of the Autonomous Council (MAC) in Dima Hasao and Nandita Garlosa, who was a prominent minister in the BJP-led state cabinet. She recently resigned from the BJP and joined the Indian National Congress after being denied a ticket from her sitting seat.

In Barak Valley urban centre, Silchar, Dr Rajdeep Roy of the BJP will be directly contesting Abhijit Paul of Congress. Silchar has been a BJP stronghold for the last two terms, but has a historical legacy of the Indian National Congress. Santosh Mohan Dev was a legendary Congress leader from Silchar and served as a Union Cabinet Minister of Heavy Industries under Manmohan Singh.