Assam Assembly elections 2026: United People’s Party Liberal walks out of NDA

A week after asking the Bharatiya Janata Party to clarify its status in the National Democratic Alliance, the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) has decided to chart its own path in Assam.

On Tuesday (March 17, 2026), the UPPL said it walked out of the NDA over “ideological differences” and that it would contest 21 of Assam’s 126 Assembly seats in the April 9 election. Six of these constituencies are beyond the UPPL’s core area — the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), whose 15 seats become crucial when no political party gets a clear mandate in the State.

R.N. Sinha, the UPPL’s vice president, told journalists in western Assam’s Kokrajhar town that his party quit the NDA as it did not like the aggressive agenda of the BJP and its ideological partner, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He appealed to people to vote out the BJP and the NDA, or be prepared to face dangerous situations in the future.

Kokrajhar, the headquarters of the BTR, is about 220 kilometres west of Guwahati.

“Our ideology is different from that of the BJP-RSS. We are a secular political party, while their ultimate goal is to make India a Hindu nation. Once that happens, ST, SC, and OBC reservations will cease to exist in the country,” Mr. Sinha said.

“The RSS wants a BJP Chief Minister in every State to implement the Uniform Civil Code. The RSS agenda is to torment the Muslims,” he said, while announcing the UPPL’s plan to contest 21 seats in Assam.

Hours before distancing itself from the BJP, the UPPL declared the names of seven candidates. They include its president, Pramod Boro, who was elected on March 9 as one of three Rajya Sabha members from Assam.

Mr. Boro said he was a UPPL nominee, while the BJP claimed he was an NDA candidate.

The UPPL was the BJP’s ally ahead of the 2021 Assembly election, and the two parties ruled the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) together for five years until September 2025.

The BTC governs the BTR comprising five districts.

The BJP warmed up the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) after it won the 2025 BTC polls, and the two parties struck a seat-sharing deal for the upcoming Assembly polls, leaving the UPPL in the lurch.

The UPPL and BPF are bitter rivals in the BTR, which borders Bhutan and West Bengal.

According to their agreement, the BPF will contest 11 seats across the BTR and the BJP will stand in four seats. Along with two other allies — Asom Gana Parishad and Rabha Hasong Joutha Mancha — the two parties are expected to announce their list of candidates within the next 48 hours.