The
Assam Legislative Assembly
The Assam Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Assam. It is housed in Guwahati, the capital city of Assam, geographically situated in present Western Assam region. The Legislative Assembly comprises 126 M ...
Election of 2016 was held in two phases, on 4 and 11 April 2016, to elect members of the 126 constituencies in
Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
, a state in North-eastern India. The overall voter turnout was 84.72%, which set a new record for Assam. The turnout was an increase from the
2011 Assembly election figure of 75%.
The counting of votes and results declaration was completed on 19 May 2016. The election brought a change of power as the
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British ...
(INC), which had formed the government under
Tarun Gogoi since 2001, lost its majority to the
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the List of ruling p ...
(BJP, lit "Indian People's Party") led by
Sarbananda Sonowal.
Background
The prior Assam assembly ended on 5 June 2016.
The full bench of the
Election Commission headed by
Syed Nasim Ahmad Zaidi
Syed Nasim Ahmad Zaidi served as 20th Chief Election Commissioner of India. He is a retired I.A.S. officer of 1976 batch from the Uttar Pradesh cadre.
Education
Zaidi possesses a master's degree in Public Administration from Kennedy School of G ...
visited Assam on 21 December 2015.
Voter-verified paper audit trails were introduced in 10 constituencies (approximately 2400 polling booths) in Assam assembly polls. These included the four assembly constituencies in
Kamrup Metro district:
Dispur
Dispur (, ) is the capital of the Indian state of Assam and is a suburb at Guwahati.
It became the capital in 1973, when Shillong the erstwhile capital, became the capital of the state of Meghalaya that was carved out of Assam.
Dispur is ...
,
Jalukbari,
Gauhati East and Gauhati West. 250 polling stations were made model polling stations.
Electoral process
An update to the
National Register of Citizens of India
The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a register of all Indian citizens whose creation is mandated by the 2003 amendment of the Citizenship Act, 1955. Its purpose is to document all the legal citizens of India so that the illegal immigran ...
(NRC) was to be completed by 1 January 2016, monitored by the
Supreme Court of India
The Supreme Court of India (IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...
. By September 2015, the first phase was completed; over 66.90 lakh (6,690,000) households submitted forms linking themselves to either the NRC of 1951 or any of the electoral rolls prior to 24 March 1971. It was to be followed by verifying the applications.
The effort was intended to detect and deport the illegal migrants who came from neighbouring Bangladesh on or after 25 March 1971. Since 1985, Foreigners' Tribunals have declared over 38,000 persons in Assam as illegal migrants. Nearly 1.5 lakh (150,000) names in Assam's electoral rolls carry the prefix "D" for "Doubtful" citizenship status. The Supreme Court directed the Assam Government to complete the final NRC by 1 March 2016. In May 2015, the historic
India–Bangladesh land swap deal was signed, exchanging long-standing territorial enclaves and simplifying the border.
According to the draft electoral rolls published in October 2015, the total number of voters in Assam stands at 1.92 crores (19.2 million). The Election Commission said that final electoral rolls would be published by 11 January 2016.
Religion data
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 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 communities) combined account for about 36%.
Out of 32 districts of Assam, 11 are Muslim majority according to the 2011 census. The districts are
Dhubri,
Goalpara,
Barpeta,
Morigaon,
Nagaon,
Hojai,
Karimganj,
South Salmara–Mankachar,
Hailakandi
Hailakandi (pron:ˈhaɪləˌkʌndi) is a town and the district headquarters of Hailakandi district in the Indian state of Assam. Hailakandi is located at .
Demography
According to the 2011 census, Hailakandi had a population of 33,637. Most ...
,
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 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.
Campaign
In November 2015,
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the List of ruling p ...
(BJP) President
Amit Shah held a party workers' rally in
Dibrugarh in
Upper Assam Division. Union Minister and
Lakhimpur MP
Sarbananda Sonowal was made Assam BJP chief to head their election committee. Sonowal found the situation of illegal immigration from Bangladesh "very alarming". (Sonowal had led an effort to have the controversial
Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) (IMDT) Act struck down by the
Supreme court of India
The Supreme Court of India (IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...
in December 2006, making deportations easier.)
Himanta Biswa Sarma, a state Congress heavyweight joined BJP. BJP has aimed for 'Mission 84' in Assam. BJP led in 69 assembly constituencies in the
Lok Sabha elections 2014 by winning 7 Lok Sabha seats in Assam. For the first time, the BJP had contested the
Bodoland Territorial Council elections, and won a seat.
In December 2015,
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British ...
(INC) Vice-President
Rahul Gandhi visited Assam where he accused
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS, lit "National Volunteer Organisation") workers of not letting him enter
Barpeta Satra temple in Barpeta district. RSS, widely regarded as the parent organisation of BJP, denied the charge. Gandhi announced that
Tarun Gogoi would be the chief minister candidate of INC. Demand was growing for giving scheduled tribe (ST) status to six communities –
Tai Ahoms,
Koch Rajbongshis, Moran, Motok, Sootea and 36
tea tribes (the descendants of tea garden workers settled by British in the state from Chotanagpur plateau in the mid-19th century).
In November 2015, nine members of the legislative assembly left the INC and joined BJP. Assam Governor PB Acharya made a controversial statement that
Hindustan is only for Hindus. Ex-
United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) rebels announced that they would contest Assam polls. On 26 December 2015, BJP's Assam unit launched its 'Assam Nirman' initiative, seeking public opinion to prepare a vision document for development in Assam.
On 28 December 2015,
Smriti Irani visited
Barak Valley in Assam and accused the
Tarun Gogoi government of not doing enough for women's safety. Gogoi accused the
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government of stalling tactics on granting citizenship to refugees from Bangladesh, claiming that they had been persecuted there. Gogoi said external affairs minister
Sushma Swaraj met with businessmen in Assam during her visit instead of talking about the problems and issues confronting the state.
In January 2016, the Gogoi government announced rice prices at
Rs 2 per kilogramme and to build all-religion . The Assam INC President ruled-out any alliance with
All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) or
Asom Gana Parishad (AGP, lit "Assam Peoples Association") parties. Union Home Minister
Rajnath Singh visited Assam on 3 January 2016 and said the fencing along the Indo-Bangladesh border would be completed by December 2016. A delegation of the
All Assam Students Union (AASU) met Singh and visited the border areas. Rajnath Singh visited Dhubri district and expressed dissatisfaction with the fencing work there. He said that a feasibility study and two pilot projects were underway in the Dhubri sector of the riverine border. Gogoi said that 97.32% of the border fencing work in Karimganj and Dhubri was complete and asked the Central Government to take up a pilot project involving technological solutions to plug the riverine border.
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the List of Prime Ministers of India, 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the List of chief ministers of Gujarat, Chief Minist ...
addressed a rally in
Kokrajhar on 19 January 2016, after his visit to
Sikkim on 18 January 2016. Modi formally announced the alliance of
Bodoland People's Front (BPF) with BJP in Assam.
On 28 January, the BJP Parliamentary Board announced
Sarbananda Sonowal as their Chief Ministerial candidate of Assam. Union minister of state for commerce and industry
Nirmala Sitharaman accused Gogoi of spreading misinformation on the suspension of the North East Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy (NEIIPP), 2007. Ethnic groups of Assam sought ULFA pro-talks faction headed by founding general secretary
Anup Chetia to help them receive ST designation.
Modi arrived on 5 February to first attend the 85th conference of the
Srimanta Sankaradeva Sangha
The Srimanta Sankaradeva Sangha, established in 1930, is the largest socio-religious organization in Assam.
History
The beginning of the twentieth century saw the onset of different types of movements in Assam. It was a movement of the searc ...
at the erstwhile Ahom capital of
Sivasagar. Then he addressed a rally at Moran. Modi dedicated the Assam gas cracker project at Dibrugarh and inaugurated the
2016 South Asian Games in
Guwahati
Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...
on 5 February.
On 2 March, the BJP announced its alliance with AGP. AGP was given 24 seats. Gogoi announced a special package of Rs 3,000 cr (Rs 30 billion) for Barak Valley. Gandhi visited Assam for two days, 4–5 March 2016, and addressed public meetings in
Silchar and
Nagaon. On 6 March 2016, INC allied with Bodo-heartland-based United People's Party in a strategy to counter BJP's alliance with BPF.
On 10 March, BJP declared candidates for the first phase of Assam elections. Out of 126 Assembly constituencies, BJP contested 84 constituencies and left 42 to its four
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) allies: AGP (24), BPF (16), Rabha Jatiya Aikya Manch (1) and Tiwa Jatiya Aikya Manch (1). BJP gave tickets to two ex-militants including Bhaskar Sarma (who was accused of secret killings). On 16 March 2016,
Sarbananda Sonowal filed his nomination for the
Majuli (ST) assembly seat. Modi addressed a rally in Majuli on 23 March 2016. INC released its first list of 65 candidates on 15 March 2016; the second list of 57 candidates was announced on 21 March 2016. INC contested 122 seats while its ally United People's Party contested the remaining 4 seats. BJP's Himanta Biswa Sarma filed nomination papers from Jalukbari on 21 March 2016. AIUDF contested around 76 seats while its allies in Assam –
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and
Janata Dal (United) (JD
– contest 12 seats each. AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal ran for South Salmara seat, while Gogoi ran for the Titabar seat against BJP MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa.
On 12 February 2016, the
Election Commission of India
The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body. It was established by the Constitution of India to conduct and regulate elections in the country. Article 324 of the Constitution provides that the power of superintendence, dir ...
announced that 10 assembly constituencies in Assam will have 2300
voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines attached along with
electronic voting machines (EVMs).
Schedule
The dates of the election were announced on 4 March 2016. (In previous elections, all 140 constituencies went to polls on the same day.)
The polling was held in two phases, on 4 and 11 April 2016. The counting was scheduled for 19 May 2016 for both phases.
Opinion polls
Exit polls
Voting
Voter turnout was 84.72%. 87.03% polling was recorded in the second phase, the highest in Assam's history. One person was killed by police in Assam. 189 EVMs were replaced in the final phase due to technical issues.
A total of 1,064 candidates contested the elections – 122 from INC, 89 from BJP, 74 from AIUDF, 30 from AGP, 13 from the BPF, 15 from CPI, 19 from CPM, 205 others and 497 Independents. The total number of polling stations in Assam was 24,890, spread across 50 election districts.
Result
! colspan="3" rowspan="2" width="150" , Parties and Coalitions
! colspan="3" , Popular vote
! colspan="3" , Seats
, -
! width="70" , Vote
! width="45" , %
! width ="50", +/-
! Contested
! width="45" , Won
!+/-
, -
, bgcolor=",
,
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the List of ruling p ...
, Rowspan=5, NDA
, 4,992,185
, 29.5
,
, 84
, 60
, 55
, -
, bgcolor=,
,
Asom Gana Parishad
, 1,377,482
, 8.1
,
, 24
, 14
, 5
, -
, bgcolor=",
,
Bodoland People's Front
, 666,057
, 3.9
,
, 16
, 12
,
, -
,
,
Rabha Jatiya Aikya Manch
Rabha Jatiya Aikya Manch (RJAM) is a regional political party in Assam, India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, an ...
,
,
,
, 1
, 0
,
, -
,
,
Tiwa Jatiya Aikya Manch
Tiwa Jatiya Aikya Manch (TJAM) is a regional political party in Assam, India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and ...
,
,
,
, 1
, 0
,
, -
, bgcolor=,
,
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British ...
, Rowspan=2, UPA
, 5,238,655
, 30.9
,
, 122
, 26
, 53
, -
, bgcolor=#F3ED13,
,
United People's Party Liberal
The United People's Party Liberal ( UPPL) is a political party founded in Assam. The party has its headquarters in Kokrajhar Town
Kokrajhar () is a town in the Bodoland Territorial Region, an autonomous territory in Assam, one of the Nor ...
,
,
,
, 4
, 0
,
, -
, bgcolor=,
,
All India United Democratic Front
, Rowspan=2, G.A
, 2,207,945
, 13.0
,
, 74
, 13
, 5
, -
, bgcolor=,
,
Janata Dal (United)
, 12,538
, 0.07
,
, 4
, 0
,
, -
, bgcolor=,
,
Communist Party of India (Marxist)
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the na ...
, Rowspan=2, Left
, 93,508
, 0.55
,
, 19
, 0
,
, -
, bgcolor=,
,
Communist Party of India
, 37,243
, 0.22
,
, 15
, 0
,
, -
, bgcolor=,
,
Independents
,
, 1,867,531
, 11.04
,
, 496
, 1
, 2
, -
,
! colspan=2 , Total
, 16919364
, 100.0
,
, 126
,
,
, -
! colspan="10" ,
, -
, style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" , Valid votes
, align="right" ,
, align="right" ,
, colspan="5" rowspan="5" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ,
, -
, style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" , Invalid votes
, align="right" ,
, align="right" ,
, -
, style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" , Votes cast / turnout
, align="right" ,
, align="right" ,
, -
, style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" , Abstentions
, align="right" ,
, align="right" ,
, -
, style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" , Registered voters
, align="right" ,
, colspan="1" style="background-color:#E9E9E9",
, -
Results by Constituency
Share
Seat Share
See also
*
2016 elections in India
*
2011 Assam Legislative Assembly election
The 13th Assam Legislative Assembly election was held in two phases on 4 and 11 April 2011 to elect members from 126 constituencies in Assam, India. The result was announced on 13 May. BJP was accused of turning the anti-immigrant feeling in Ass ...
*
Bangladeshis in India
*
Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act, 1983
The Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) (IMDT) Act was an Act of the Parliament of India enacted in 1983 by the Indira Gandhi government. It was struck down by the Supreme Court of India in 2005 in ''Sarbananda Sonowal v. Union of I ...
*
National Register of Citizens of India
The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a register of all Indian citizens whose creation is mandated by the 2003 amendment of the Citizenship Act, 1955. Its purpose is to document all the legal citizens of India so that the illegal immigran ...
References
External links
Election Commission of India
{{Assam elections, state=collapsed
Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
2016
2016