Assam Assembly elections 2026: Pradyut factor in Congress’s third list of candidates

The Pradyut Bordoloi factor dominated the third list of 22 Congress candidates released for the April 9 Assembly polls on Thursday (March 19, 2026).

The party had announced the names of 65 candidates in two instalments earlier.

Congress retained MLA Asif Mohammad Nazar from the Laharighat constituency and dropped Sibamoni Bora, who defeated Bharatiya Janata Party heavyweight Angoorlata Deka to win the Batadrava seat in 2021.

Assembly elections 2026 updates

The two are linked to the resignation of Nagaon MP Pradyut Bordoloi from Congress on March 17. Ms. Bora was travelling with Mr. Bordoloi when their vehicle was attacked by a group of men in April 2025.

Mr. Bordoloi quit Congress over the party’s alleged indifference to his plea not to re-nominate Mr. Nazar, as one of his attackers was reportedly the MLA’s close associate. The BJP was quick to field Mr. Bordoloi from the Dispur seat.

The Congress list names Durlav Chamua as the candidate for the Nagaon-Batadraba constituency, indicating that Ms. Bora is no longer in the party’s plans.

Among the other 20 candidates are MLAs Aftab Uddin Mollah and Pradip Sarkar, re-nominated from the Jaleswar and Abhayapuri constituencies.

Congress to BJP to AGP

The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), one of the BJP’s three regional allies, announced its first and final list of 26 MLAs.

One of the candidates is Basanta Das, the Barpeta MLA who switched from Congress to the BJP and then to the AGP within a fortnight. The AGP made him the candidate from the Naoboicha constituency barely nine hours after he moved from the BJP.

Two turncoat MLAs from the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), Karim Uddin Barbhuiya and Zakir Hussain Laskar, also figure on the list of AGP candidates. They have been fielded from Barak Valley’s Sonai and Algapur-Katlicherra seats.

Among the notable AGP candidates are the party’s president and Minister Atul Bora (Bokakhat), his Cabinet colleague Keshab Mahanta (Kaliabor), and MLAs Prodip Hazarika (Sibsagar), Prithviraj Rabha (Tezpur), and Diptimayee Choudhury (Bongaigaon), the wife of the party’s MP Phani Bhushan Choudhury.

On Thursday (March 19, 2026), the AIUDF announced its third list of five candidates, taking the total number of nominees to 27.

The United People’s Party Liberal, which walked out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance a few days ago, also brought out its third list of five candidates. The party has fielded candidates in 16 seats so far.