Assam CM, regional party chiefs file nominations

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and the presidents of two non-NDA regional parties were among the top candidates who filed their nomination papers on Friday (March 20, 2026).

The election to the 126-member Assam Assembly will be held on April 9.

Mr. Sarma filed his papers for the Jalukbari constituency in Guwahati. While Pramod Boro, the president of the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL), submitted his nomination for the Tamulpur seat in western Assam’s Tamulpur town, his Raijor Dal counterpart Akhil Gogoi filed his for the Sibsagar seat in eastern Assam’s Sivasagar town.

“I lost the Jalukbari seat by almost 12,000 votes in 1996, my first election. It rained before I submitted my papers [on Friday], which we think is a good sign,” he told journalists, confident of the BJP and its regional allies putting up a “serious fight” in 102 of the 126 seats.

Mr. Sarma is seeking election from Jalukbari for the sixth straight term.

Mr. Boro, whose party walked out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) a few days after he was elected as a Rajya Sabha member, is contesting an Assembly election for the first time. “We have not promised alliance or friendship with any party or bloc,” he told journalists after filing his papers.

Seeking the blessings of his BJP rival and Assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary, Mr. Boro defended the UPPL’s decision to leave the NDA. “The ruling alliance has a new love (Bodoland Peoples’ Front, the UPPL’s prime rival in the Bodoland Territorial Region, comprising 15 Assembly seats), and we have no intention to disturb this romance,” he said.

‘Land rights for all’

In Sivasagar, State Congress president Gaurav Gogoi accompanied Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi to the returning officer’s office when he filed the nomination papers. Both parties entered into a seat-sharing deal late on Thursday. “We need to build a new ‘Bor Asom’ (greater Assam) by ejecting Himanta Biswa Sarma from the Chief Minister’s chair. Our Bor Asom goal is development and land rights for all, not a single person,” the State Congress president said.

The Raijor Dal president said his party could win 10 of the 13 seats it is contesting. “If we form the government, we will give ₹3,000 per month to each Orunodoi beneficiary instead of the ₹1,250 they are getting from the BJP,” he said.

The BJP-led government introduced the Orunodoi scheme in October 2020 for families below the poverty line. The State government transferred ₹9,000 each to some 40 lakh beneficiaries a few days before the election was announced on March 15. The money comprised four months of instalments and ₹4,000 as bonus for the mid-April Rongali Bihu festival.

Among the other leaders who submitted their nominations on Friday (March 20) were Ministers Ajanta Neog and Pijush Hazarika, and Congress Legislature Party leader Debabrata Saikia.