Elections to the

Assam Legislative Assembly The Assam Legislative Assembly is the unicameral Assam Legislature, legislature of the List of states and union territories of India, Indian state of Assam. It is housed in Dispur, the capital city of Assam, geographically situated in present L ...

were held in April 1996 to elect members of 114 constituencies in

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

, India. The

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

(INC) won the popular vote, but the

Asom Gana Parishad Asom Gana Parishad (translation: ''Assam People's Council'', AGP) is a political party in the state of Assam, India. The AGP was formed following the historic Assam Accord of 1985 and formally launched at the Golaghat Convention held from 13 t ...

(AGP) won the most seats and

Prafulla Kumar Mahanta Prafulla Kumar Mahanta (born 23 December 1952) is an Indian politician who was the leader of the Assam Movement, and the 11th Chief Minister of Assam from 1985 to 1990 and again from 1996 to 2001 and the co-founder and former President of the ...

was appointed as the

Chief Minister of Assam The chief minister of Assam, an Indian state, is the head of the Government of Assam. As per the Constitution of India, the governor is the state's ''de jure'' head, but '' de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following e ...

for his second term. The number of constituencies was set as 126, by the recommendation of the

Delimitation Commission of India The Delimitation Commission of India is a commission established by the Government of India under the provisions of the Delimitation Commission Act, tasked with redrawing the boundaries of legislative assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies bas ...

, but elections were held in only 122 constituencies. The constituencies of

Dispur Dispur (, ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Assam and is a suburb of Guwahati. It became the capital in 1973, when Shillong the erstwhile capital ...

, Dergaon,

Nazira Nazira () is a city and a municipal board in Sivasagar district Sivasagar district (Pron: or ) is one of the 34 districts of Assam state in Northeast India. Sivasagar city is the administrative headquarters of this district. This histo ...

and Margherita did not go to polls immediately, but they had polls in November 1996.

Background

The

Hiteswar Saikia Hiteswar Saikia (3 October 1934 – 22 April 1996) was an Indian politician who served as the 10th chief minister of Assam for two terms, firstly from 28 February 1983 to 23 December 1985 and then from 30 June 1991 to 22 April 1996. He was th ...

, died in Delhi, on 22 April 1996, just 5 days before the election. Bhumidhar Barman was sworn in as chief-minister, but since the INC wasn't able to form the government after the election, his tenure was just 22 days. In 1993, the breakaway group of the AGP, the Natun Asom Gana Parishad, merged back with the AGP. Additionally, the AGP formed a five-party alliance before the elections, with the CPI, the

CPI(M) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electoral seats, and one of the six national parties of India. ...

, the ASDC and the UMFA.

Result

Elected members

Aftermath

On 6 May 1996, the Minister for Rural Development, and candidate for the Golaghat Assembly constituency, Nagen Neog was killed, by suspected terrorists. Along with him, 8 other people, including his driver, and 5 bodyguards, also died.

Bye-elections

References

{{Assam elections