Guwahati, May 5: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secured a sweeping victory in the Assam Assembly elections, winning 102 of the 126 seats, with the 2023 delimitation exercise emerging as a decisive factor in reshaping the electoral landscape. The redrawing of constituencies, which reduced the influence of minority-dominated seats and increased reservations for Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes, significantly boosted the BJP and its allies.
The delimitation diluted the traditional strongholds of the Congress and AIUDF, particularly in Muslim-majority constituencies. Previously influential across 35 seats, the minority vote bank was reduced to fewer than 25 constituencies, where the opposition managed to win 24 seats, including 22 Muslim candidates. The AIUDF, which had secured 16 seats in the last polls, was reduced to just two, while Congress won 19. Raijor Dal and Trinamool Congress managed one seat each.
Several constituencies with large Bengali-speaking Muslim populations, such as Barpeta and Goalpara (West), were reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, enabling the NDA to wrest them from Congress. The Bodoland region also saw a significant impact, with tribal reserved seats increased from 11 to 15. NDA ally Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) won 10 of these, while its sole Muslim candidate lost.
The BJP, which did not field Muslim candidates, focused sharply on identity politics and consolidated its position in reserved constituencies. Its allies, the BPF and AGP, contributed 10 seats each, while the BJP itself secured 82. Despite attempts by the AGP to field 13 Muslim candidates, none succeeded, including sitting MLAs whose constituencies were altered by delimitation.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier asserted that the delimitation would strengthen the BJP’s prospects in the 2026 polls, and the results have validated that prediction. Conducted in 2023 based on the 2011 census, the exercise kept the total number of seats unchanged but realigned boundaries and reservations, reshaping Assam’s political map.
