NDA to finalise Assam seat-sharing by mid-March: CM

Guwahati

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday (February 24, 2026) said that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would finalise its seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming Assembly elections by mid-March.

The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) were the allies of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2021 Assembly elections. While the former continues to be an ally, there is no clarity about the status of the latter after the BJP befriended its regional rival, Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), following the Bodoland Territorial Council elections in September 2025.

The Chief Minister said discussions with alliance partners were at an advanced stage. “Everything is moving in the right direction, and I think the seat-sharing and the names of candidates will be finalised by March 15-16,” he told journalists in Bokajan in central Assam’s Karbi Anglong district.

Assam has 126 Assembly constituencies. In 2021, the BJP, AGP, and UPPL contested 93, 22, and 11 seats, winning 60, nine, and six of them, respectively.

Speculation is rife that the BJP may allot fewer than 22 seats to the AGP in the forthcoming polls, likely by April. The AGP is also expected to contest a significant number of seats in Muslim-dominated areas, where the BJP has limited electoral prospect.

The UPPL, on the other hand, is caught in a web of uncertainty about the alliance. “What is certain is that our alliance (with the BJP) continues to date,” party president Pramod Boro said. Both the UPPL and the BFP are eyeing 15 Assembly constituencies across five districts under the Bodoland Territorial Council. The BPF had severed its ties with the BJP before the 2021 polls and briefly aligned with the Congress.

Meanwhile, the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) has requested the Congress to support its president, Badruddin Ajmal, as a Rajya Sabha nominee.

AIUDF leader Rafiqul Islam said his party had written to the Congress, recalling past political cooperation. “We stated that we have always supported Congress in the President and Rajya Sabha elections. The upcoming Rajya Sabha election is a good opportunity for them to return the favour, as they always say they would,” he said.

Three Rajya Sabha members from Assam—Bhubaneswar Kalita and Rameswar Teli of the BJP and independent member Ajit Kumar Bhuyan—are set to retire in April. Elections to the seats will be held on March 16.

Like the BPF, the AIUDF was part of the Congress-led Mahajot in 2021 but exited the grand alliance earlier than the BPF.