The 2021 Assam Legislative Assembly election was the 15th quinquennial legislative assembly election held in the Indian state of Assam from March 27 to April 6 in three phases, to elect 126 MLAs to the 15th Assam Legislative Assembly. The votes were counted and the result declared on Sunday, 2 May. The term of the 14th Legislative Assembly of Assam ended on 31 May 2021.
The election saw the incumbent BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) retaining power with 75 seats, which marked the first time a non-INC alliance won consecutive terms in the state. The Mahajot led by INC won 50 seats, increasing its tally from 26 in 2016. Jailed activist and Raijor Dal founder and President Akhil Gogoi contested the election as an independent candidate and won the Sibsagar seat by a margin of 11,875 votes.
Background
The election in 2016 brought a change of power as the Indian National Congress (INC), which had formed the government under Tarun Gogoi since 2001, lost its majority to the Bharatiya Janata Party led by Sarbananda Sonowal.
Demographics According to the 2011 census, 61.5% were Hindus, 34.22% were Muslims. Christian minorities (3.7%) are mostly among some of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (SC/ST) population.
The six communities in Assam – Maran, Matak, Tai Ahom, Chutia, Koch Rajbongshi and the tea tribes have been demanding the grant of ST status since a long time. These six communities are numerous and would play a major role in the elections. The Scheduled Tribe population (both ST(Plains) and ST(Hills))combined in Assam is around 13% of which the Bodo people (an indigenous Assamese community) account for 40% and the Scheduled Caste population is about 7.4% of which the Kaibarta and Jal Keot (both indigenous Assamese & migrant Bengali communities) combined account for about 36%.
Out of 32 districts of Assam, 11 are Muslim majority according to the 2011 census. These districts are Dhubri, Goalpara, Barpeta, Morigaon, Nagaon, Hojai, Karimganj, South Salmara–Mankachar, Hailakandi, Darrang and Bongaigaon. Bodos have a population share of 12% and the Kaibarta and Jal Keot have a total share of about 10% (all of which are a part of the indigenous Assamese community). The share of the indigenous Assamese communities in Assam was about 47% in the 2001 census which has reduced to about 40-45% in 2016 as predicted by the experts. Indigenous Assamese Muslims, also known as Khilonjia Muslims, include ethnic groups such as Goria and Moria, and are estimated to be around 40 lakhs in population out of a total 1 crore (4 million out of 10 million) Muslims in Assam.
Voter statistics According to the CEO office, 23,374,087 General electors were eligible to vote in the Assam Assembly election. Of these, 132,081 voters had disabilities, 289,474 voters were above the age of 80, 1,281,918 were newly enrolled voters, and 505,874 voters were in the age group of 18–19 years. Apart from these, there were also 63,074 service voters. More than 1.08 lakh D-voters were barred from casting their votes in this election.
Total electors Male voters Female voters Third gender voters Service voters Overseas electors 23,437,172 11,823,286 11,550,403 398 63,074 11
Schedule
Poll event Phase I II III Constituencies 47 39 40 Map of constituencies and their phases Date of issue of notification 2 March 2021 5 March 2021 12 March 2021 Last date for filling nomination 9 March 2021 12 March 2021 19 March 2021 Scrutiny of nomination 10 March 2021 15 March 2021 20 March 2021 Last date for withdrawal of nomination 12 March 2021 17 March 2021 22 March 2021 Date of poll 27 March 2021 1 April 2021 6 April 2021 Date of counting of votes 2 May 2021 Source: Election Commission of India
Parties and alliances
National Democratic Alliance
Party Symbol Leader Contesting seats Bharatiya Janata Party BJP Ranjeet Kumar Dass 93 Asom Gana Parishad AGP Atul Bora 25 United People's Party Liberal UPPL Pramod Boro 8
Mahajot
Party Symbol Leader Seat share Indian National Congress INC Debabrata Saikia 95 All India United Democratic Front AIUDF Badruddin Ajmal 20 Bodoland People's Front BOPF Hagrama Mohilary 12 Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI(M) Deben Bhattacharyya 2 Communist Party of India CPI Munin Mahanta 1 Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation CPI (ML)L Rupun Sarma 1 Anchalik Gana Morcha AGM Ajit Kumar Bhuyan 1 Rashtriya Janata Dal RJD Hira Devi 1
URF
No. Symbol Leader(s) Contesting seats Assam Jatiya Parishad AJP Lurinjyoti Gogoi 82 Raijor Dal RD Akhil Gogoi 29Autonomous State Demand CommitteeASDCChandra Kanta Terang4
Others
Party Symbol Leader Contesting seats National People's Party NPP 11
Candidates Assembly constituencyNDAMahajot Voting