BJP finalises seat-sharing deal with two regional parties for Assam polls

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) finalised its seat-sharing arrangement with two of its three regional allies in poll-bound Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Monday (March 9, 2026).

The two parties are the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) and the Rabha Hasong Joutha Mancha (RHJM), both focused primarily on areas covered by tribal councils—the former in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), which spans 15 Assembly seats, and the latter in the Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council (RHAC), covering three Assembly seats in southwestern Assam.

As in 2021, the RHJM is expected to get one of the three seats in the RHAC area.

“While the BPF will contest 11 seats, we will contest four seats in the BTR. We have also come to an understanding with the Rabha Hasong party,” the Chief Minister said on the concluding day of the BJP’s Jan Ashirwad Yatra in western Assam’s Nalbari.

He said the pre-poll alliance with another BTR-specific BJP ally, the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL), depends on its equation with the BPF. “We are contesting only four seats. So, the BPF and UPPL will have to work it (seat-sharing) out between themselves,” he added.

The UPPL, whose president Pramod Boro was nominated for one of the three Rajya Sabha seats from Assam set to fall vacant in April, had earlier said it would contest all 15 seats independently if the seat-sharing deal with the BJP did not materialise.

The rivalry between the BPF and UPPL in the BTR landscape is considered beyond reconciliation.

“Ball in Delhi’s court”

The Chief Minister also said that the BJP has “almost sealed” the seat-sharing arrangement with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP). “We have sent the list of seats proposed by the AGP to our Central Parliamentary Board in Delhi for its approval,” he said.

AGP leaders—particularly party president and Agriculture Minister Atul Bora and his Cabinet colleague Keshab Mahanta—have reportedly been under pressure from grassroots workers for “selling their souls” to the BJP. Reports suggest the BJP wants the AGP to contest fewer than the 25 seats it fought in the 2021 Assembly elections.

Mr. Sarma also said that the BJP’s list of candidates has been forwarded to the party’s Central Parliamentary Board for endorsement. “We have proposed three names in most of the constituencies the BJP is contesting,” he said.

Elections to Assam’s 126-member Assembly are expected by mid-April. The BJP had won 60 seats in 2021, while its allies secured 15.