Assam Assembly Elections 2026: BJP Announces 88 Candidates; CM Himanta Will Contest from This Seat; Cong Defectors Bhupen Borah, Pradyut Bordoloi Get Tickets
Assam Assembly Elections 2026: For the Assam Legislative Assembly elections-2026, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has released its first list of 88 candidates. This list was finalized during a meeting of the Central Election Committee held last Wednesday, wherein the party's top leadership gave their final approval to these names. The meeting was attended by BJP National President Nitin Naveen, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
CM Himanta Biswa Sarma will contest the election from his traditional constituency, Jalukbari. This marks the seventh time he is contesting from this seat.
Former Congress President Bhupen Borah, who joined the BJP just 25 days ago, has also been allotted a ticket.
Bhupen Kumar Borah, a former two-term MLA who served as president of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee from 2021 to 2025, has been fielded from Bihpuria in Lakhimpur district — the same seat he held for a decade.
Borah, who spent over three decades with the Congress, cited a growing sense of neglect and internal conflict as reasons for his exit. He claimed that his concerns about the party's functioning in Assam were repeatedly ignored by the leadership.
He also alleged that the Assam unit had effectively been taken over by Rakibul Hussain, sidelining several senior leaders, including himself. He formally joined the BJP in February, with Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma — himself a Congress defector — welcoming him with the remark: "We joined the Congress party together. I left sooner."
Pradyut Bordoloi to contest from Dispur
The BJP has dropped veteran leaders, fielding Congress defectors in key seats and bringing in new faces after two straight terms in power.
The BJP has fielded MP Pradyut Bordoloi—who joined the party just a day prior after leaving the Congress—as its candidate from Dispur.
Pradyut Bordoloi, the sitting Lok Sabha MP from Nagaon, resigned from Congress on March 17 and joined the BJP the very next day, March 18. He has now been fielded from Dispur, one of Assam's most prominent urban constituencies. Bordoloi, a Congress member for more than five decades, said he had been facing humiliation and isolation within the party for the past two years.
He also pointed to the growing influence of UP leader Imran Masood in Assam Congress affairs as a factor in his decision, saying he was quitting "not only for self-respect but also to work in the larger interest of Assam." By switching parties, he gave up the remaining three and a half years of his parliamentary tenure.
The back-to-back exits have left Congress struggling with organisational stability, with Bordoloi's departure costing the party one of its only three Lok Sabha MPs from the state. Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi sought to play down the damage, saying a disagreement over a single seat was not reason enough to abandon a party, while the Leader of Opposition, Debabrata Saikia, called the moves "very unfortunate."
Pratik Bordoloi announces not contest as a Cong candidate
Meanwhile, following Pradyut Bordoloi's entry into the BJP, his son, Pratik Bordoloi, has announced that he will not contest the Assembly elections as a Congress candidate. In a letter addressed to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Pratik stated that it would no longer be appropriate for him to continue as a Congress candidate.
Pratik said, "With full responsibility and respect, I am withdrawing my candidature from the Margherita seat. The people of this constituency and the Congress party workers deserve clarity and confidence regarding their candidate. I shall remain a member of the party and will fulfill whatever responsibilities the leadership entrusts to me."