3 min readMar 20, 2026 12:34 PM IST
After years of an on-again, off-again relationship and both parties declaring earlier this month that alliance talks had fallen through, the Congress and regional party Raijor Dal announced that they had finally reached a seat-sharing agreement for the upcoming Assembly polls in Assam.
The decision was announced by Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi and Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi late Thursday night, with both holding hands and exchanging gamosas, and Akhil saying his party would work to make Gaurav the next Chief Minister.
Under this agreement, the Raijor Dal will contest 13 seats, two of which – Gauripur and Goalpara East – will be in friendly contests with the Congress. The 11 seats that have been left by the Congress for the Raijor Dal include Dhing, the seat over which there was a disagreement that had led to the collapse of talks earlier, and Margherita, where the Congress candidate Prateek Bordoloi withdrew his candidacy on Thursday after his father, Pradyut Bordoloi, jumped ship to the BJP. It also includes Sivasagar, from where Akhil himself is MLA and where he will contest again.
“Today, an understanding between the Raijor Dal and the Congress has been arrived at… The Raijor Dal has taken the decision to start working from today to make Gaurav Gogoi Assam’s Chief Minister,” said Akhil.
Earlier, the Raijor Dal had said it had initially requested 27 seats but agreed to reduce this to 15 at the Congress’s request, and that ultimately the Congress agreed to 13 seats.
With the release of its third list of candidates on Thursday, the Congress has fielded candidates in 101 seats. Under the seat-sharing arrangements it has finalised across the 126 seats in the Assam legislative assembly, the Assam Jatiya Parishad will contest 10 seats, the All Party Hill Leaders Conference 2, and the CPI(M) and the Raijor Dal 11 each.
In the opposing NDA, the BJP will contest 89 seats, the Asom Gana Parishad 26, and the Bodoland People’s Front 11.
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The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), which is contesting the election alone, has named 126 candidates. Former NDA ally, the Bodoland-based United People’s Party Liberal, is also contesting alone and has so far named 18 candidates.
