Counting of votes begins in all 126 legislative assembly constituencies of Assam, where elections were held simultaneously in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Keralam, Puducherry union territory, along with bye-elections in some other States in the last few weeks. As the clock touches 8 in the morning (4 May 2026), the process kicks off in 40 designated centres across 35 districts of the north-eastern State.
Addressing the media recently, Assam chief electoral officer Anurag Goel disclosed that the ECI deputed 126 counting observers (IAS officers from the rest of India) for the State, along with 2,348 micro-observers (all central government employees) for the process. A total of 5,981 counting officials will be deputed for the counting day, where the final results are expected by evening hours. Terming it a historic election, where 85.91 percent of 2,50,54,463 Assam electorates participated in the single-phase polling on 9 April to elect their representatives out of 722 candidates from different political parties and independent contenders. Mentionable is that the last five assembly elections in Assam witnessed the voters’ turnout as 82.02 per cent in 2021, 84.64 % in 2016, 76.05 % in 2011, 75.72 % in 2006 and 75.16 % in 2001.
Meanwhile, the exit polls that appeared in the evening hours on 29 April forecast the return of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance in Assam with differences in the number of winning constituencies from 70 to over 100. The opposition alliance led by the Indian National Congress, along with other contenders, was projected to win far less than the majority mark of 64 seats. When the BJP, expecting a third consecutive term in Dispur, was predicted to cross the halfway mark independently in majority poll surveys, the Congress alone was put nearly half of the magic number in those reviews. People’s Pulse research organisation, in its exit polls, indicated a decisive mandate in favour of the National Democratic Alliance, where the BJP is projected to win between 69 and 73 seats. According to their survey, BJP ally Asom Gana Parishad may win 8–11 seats and another collaborator, Bodoland People’s Front, is expected to get 8–9 seats. On the other hand, the Congress is projected to win 22 to 26 seats only, where other parties, namely All India United Democratic Front, United People’s Party Liberal, Communist Party of India-Marxist, along with independents, may win a negligible number of seats. Today’s Chanakya indicated a landslide victory for the BJP-led alliance, offering 93 to 111 seats, where the opposition bloc may get 14 to 32 seats, and others will be limited to two seats. Similarly, the JVC exit poll projected a win in 88-101 seats for the BJP-AGP-BPF alliance and 23-33 seats for the opposition alliance and around 5 for others. Metrize provided 85-95 seats for the ruling alliance, 25-32 seats for the opposition block, with 6-12 for others, and Kamakhya Analytics predicted 85-95 seats for the BJP block and 26-39 seats for the opposition alliance with 0-3 seats for others. On the other hand, Axis My India predicted 88-100 seats for the saffron alliance and 24-36 seats for the opposition group, where the BJP alone is shown as the winner in 70-80 seats and Congress independently in 22-30 seats. It gave others from zero to three seats. Poll Diary forecast 86-101 seats for the NDA, 15-26 seats for the Congress front and zero for others. People’s Insight exit poll offered 88-96 seats for the BJP, 30-34 seats for the Congress and 2-4 seats for others. At the same time, P-MARQ gave 82- 94 seats to BJP allies and 30-40 seats to the opposition, where Janmat predicted 87-98 seats for the saffron alliance and 29-30 seats for the Congress front.
The BJP unveiled its manifesto with several important promises to counter a decade-long (two-term) anti-incumbency wave. The party’s 31-point Sankalpa-Patra proposed continuous economic activities blending with welfare assurances. Moreover, the saffron party did not forget to exploit the inherent anxiety of mainstream Assamese people by ensuring safeguards against the illegal migrants (read Bangladesh-origin Muslims). It also highlighted the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act 1950, which was picked up by the Assam government to deal with the massive illegal Bangladeshi issue in recent days, even though this central act could not prevent the historic anti-foreigner agitation (1979 to 1985) and updation of the National Register of Citizens (2013–2019) in Assam. Assuring that all signed peace accords will be implemented on time, the nationalist party promised to bring the Uniform Civil Code into action and also formulate stringent laws to deal with sensational issues like love-jihad and land-jihad. It highlighted the continued effort to address child marriages and also polygamy practices as an initiative for social reforms. As usual, the party took pride in mentioning the creation of over 1.6 lakh government jobs in the last five years, where the selection process was transparent, and guaranteed its mission to offer two lakh jobs to the eligible candidates in the next five years.
On the other hand, Congress leaders alleged widespread corruption against many leaders in power, precisely Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, as well as their failure to accomplish many electoral promises. APCC president Gogoi, who is also the deputy leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha, also promised many benefits to the people of Assam, along with Scheduled Tribe status for Chutias, Koch Rajbongshis, Adivasis (Tea Tribes), Mataks, Morans and Tai Ahoms. He also asserted that due actions will be taken against CM Sarma after investigating his alleged financial scams.
The oldest party of India, however, invited wrath from a large section of people for bringing the issue of Assam’s cultural icon Zubeen Garg into the electoral promises. The Congress promised to facilitate justice for Zubeen, who died under mysterious circumstances in Singapore on 19 September last year, within 100 days, if voted to power. Zubeen’s widow, Garima Saikia Garg and close relatives appealed to all political parties not to politicise his untimely death and subsequent trials (currently going on in local court) for electoral gains.
Counting begins for Assam assembly constituencies
