Story so far: Incumbent Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma won a second term as the BJP-led North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) won 102 of the 126-seat Assembly polls. The Congress-led six-party alliance won only 21 seats (Congress –19, Raijor Dal – 2) while All India United Democratic Front (AIDUF) won two seats and Trinamool and Independent candidates one each. 

Banking on Mr. Sarma’s popularity, BJP made “removal of illegal immigrants” and continuing infrastructure push in the North-East at its poll plank as a special revision of electoral rolls deleted 2.43 lakh voters. Distancing itself from Badruddin Ajmal’s AIUDF and vowing to “secure justice” for State icon Zubeen Garg’s untimely death, the Congress cobbled up a regional alliance with Akhil Gogoi’s Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), Left parties and All Party Hill Leaders Conference (APHLC). 

While an upstart born in the aftermath of the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests manages to hold its own against the principal Opposition party, the one synonymous with regionalism in Assam is in terminal decline even after enjoying the perks of power for the past decade.

The Raijor Dal, with party chief Akhil Gogoi its sole MLA in the outgoing Assembly and that too as an Independent contesting from jail, has managed to wrangle 11 seats from the Congress after calling off alliance talks and announcing candidates for 13 seats.