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3 min readGuwahatiMar 17, 2026 08:46 PM IST
All India United Democratic Front supremo Badruddin Ajmal is set to contest Assam Assembly elections after 20 years, as he leads a party fighting to retain ground in the state.
Ajmal’s AIUDF on Tuesday released its second list of candidates for the April 9 election, and has fielded Ajmal in the Binnakandi constituency in Central Assam’s Hojai district. So far, the AIUDF has announced candidates in a total of 21 constituencies.
Other candidates include former All Assam Minority Students’ Union president Rejaul Karim Sarkar, who had joined the Congress earlier this year and resigned within three days. He will fight from the Srijangram constituency. Sitting MLAs from the party, Nizanur Rahman, Hafiz Rafiqul Islam, Alhaj Aminul Islam, Ashraful Hussain, Hafiz Bashir Ahmed and Nazrul Hoque, are also in the list.
For Ajmal, who represented the Dhubri Lok Sabha constituency for three terms from 2009 till he was defeated by Congress’s Rakibul Hussain in 2024, this is a return to state elections, where he had made his electoral debut in the 2006 Assembly election. That year, he won both the seats he had contested. The 2024 Lok Sabha election, however, saw the largely minority voters of the Dhubri constituency consolidate behind the Congress.
In the weeks leading up to the Assembly election, two sitting MLAs from the party — Zakir Hussain Laskar and former AIUDF vice-president Karimuddin Barbhuiyan — joined the BJP’s regional ally, the Asom Gana Parishad.
Meanwhile, another regional party, the Assam Jatiya Parishad, which has teamed up in a seat-sharing alliance with the Congress, announced a list of eight candidates on Tuesday, adding that it would field candidates from two more constituencies.
Its candidates include its party president, Lurinjyoti Gogoi, from the Khowang constituency in Dibrugarh district. Former Assam BJP president and four-time Lok Sabha MP Rajen Gohain, who joined the AJP last year, has been fielded from the Barhampur constituency in Nagaon district.
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Two other parties that the Congress has tied up with, the CPI(M) and the All Party Hill Leaders Conference, have nominated two candidates each. These include sitting CPI(M) MLA Manoranjan Talukdar from the Bhowanipur-Sorbhog constituency and APHLC president and retired IAS officer Jones Ingti Kathar from the Diphu constituency.
The Congress itself has fielded candidates from 65 seats in total so far, and left 15 seats to its allies (there are a total of 126 seats in the Assembly.
Sukrita Baruah is a Principal Correspondent for The Indian Express, based in Guwahati. From this strategic hub, she provides comprehensive, ground-level coverage of India's North East, a region characterized by its complex ethnic diversity, geopolitical significance, and unique developmental challenges. Expertise and Experience Ethnic & Social Dynamics: Deep-dive coverage of regional conflicts (such as the crisis in Manipur) and peace-building efforts. Border & Geopolitics: Tracking developments along India’s international borders and their impact on local communities. Governance & Policy: Reporting on state elections, tribal council decisions, and the implementation of central schemes in the North East. Specialized Education Background: Prior to her current role, Sukrita was a dedicated Education Correspondent for The Indian Express in Delhi. This experience provided her with a sharp analytical lens for: Policy Analysis: Evaluating the National Education Policy (NEP) and university-level reforms. Student Affairs: Covering high-stakes stories regarding campus politics, national entrance exams, and the challenges within the primary and secondary education sectors. ... Read More
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