Raijor Dal follows ‘ally Congress, names 11 candidates for Assam polls

The Raijor Dal, led by Akhil Gogoi, released its first list of 11 candidates on Wednesday (March 4, 2026), less than 24 hours after its ally, the Indian National Congress, announced its first list of 42 candidates for the upcoming Assam Legislative Assembly election.

The elections to the 126-member House are expected in April.

Margherita is one of the constituencies where Raijor Dal, born out of the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act agitation in 2019, has named a candidate. The party has fielded Rahul Chetry from this eastern Assam seat, where the Congress has nominated Prateek Bordoloi, the son of Pradyut Bordoloi, Member of Parliament from Nagaon.

Raijor Dal has also nominated Abdur Rashid Mandal from the Goalpara East constituency in western Assam. A three-time Congress MLA, he switched to the Raijor Dal a few weeks ago.

Raijor Dal has indicated that it could field candidates in at least eight more constituencies where Congress has named its nominees, suggesting that the two parties are yet to resolve differences over seat sharing. The two parties remain allies on paper.

Among the 11 candidates, Raijor Dal’s working president Romen Chandra Borthakur will contest the Jalukbari seat. Gyanashree Bora, named from the Digboi constituency, is the lone woman in the list.

Dynasty jibe

Reacting to the Congress list of 42 candidates, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said it reflected the “hereditary politics” practised by the party.

“If you analyse the list of candidates released by the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee, it becomes clear that they have been selected based on dynasty and family politics,” he said on the sidelines of an event.

Pointing to the sons of three former Chief Ministers in the list, Mr. Sarma took a swipe at the Congress for not looking beyond the descendants of its leaders.

The three Congress candidates he referred to are Gaurav Gogoi, Member of Parliament from Jorhat, Debabrata Saikia, and Diganta Barman, contesting the Jorhat, Nazira, and Barkhetry seats, respectively. They are the sons of former Chief Ministers Tarun Gogoi, Hiteswar Saikia, and Bhumidhar Barman.

The list also includes the sons of two MPs, Rakibul Hussain, who represents the Dhubri Lok Sabha seat, and Mr. Bordoloi from Nagaon. While Tanzil Hussain is contesting the Samaguri seat vacated by his father after winning the Lok Sabha election, Prateek Bordoloi is contesting from Margherita, which his father had earlier represented.

The hereditary streak extends to Pranjal Ghatowar, the son of former Union Minister Paban Singh Ghatowar, who has been nominated from the Chabua-Lahowal constituency. Among others is Pallabi Saikia Gogoi, the daughter-in-law of former Congress MLA Membor Gogoi, who was the brother-in-law of Hiteswar Saikia.