Guwahati: Congress ran an aggressive campaign for the Assam assembly polls, including attacks on chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s family, but still failed to improve its electoral position like in the previous two elections.Its support remained concentrated in “Miya” Muslim-majority constituencies, where AIUDF lost relevance, leaving Congress with a narrow and isolated voter base. The grand old party was pushed to this corner by the relentless attacks from the CM.Sarma portrayed Congress as a party for the “Miya” Muslims, a label for migrant Muslims of Bangladeshi origin. That narrative, coupled with the renewed BJP slogan that Congress is their “saviour”, which repeated over the years, has stuck and reshaped voter perceptions, weakening Congress’s ability to broaden its appeal beyond the Muslim-majority seats.Notably, after the delimitation of 2023, the Muslim-majority seats also shrank from 35 to 22, further weakening the party’s electoral prospects. The result — Congress failed to reclaim its once-dominant position in Assam’s politics.While NDA swept the election with more than 100 seats, Congress performed worse than in the previous election, winning only 19 seats and leading in four others at the time of reporting. All of these were Muslim-majority seats.The party lost further ground among indigenous tribal and Hindu voters, and suffered major defeats as both Assam Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi and the leader of opposition in the assembly, Debabrata Saikia, lost in their respective upper Assam constituencies.Routed in its former strongholds like upper and northern Assam, most of its wins this time came from lower and southern Assam. BJP leader Pijush Hazarika said the result showed Congress had little support outside the “Miya”-inhabited constituencies and framed the NDA victory as one for the “Sanatani civilisation”.Within Congress, frustration was evident. Gaurav did not comment, and only senior leader Ripun Bora urged workers not to lose morale and promised a serious review of the results. He also raised doubts about the outcome, alleging, “EVM manipulation possibilities are there as the poll outcome did not reflect frustration of the Gen Z over the delay in justice for Zubeen, frustration over price rise and anger over polarisation politics of Himanta Biswa Sarma”.“Everyone doubts the outcome because CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, during the election, said that they (NDA) will get 100 seats and almost that happened today,” Bora said. Exit poll results also reflected the same a few days ago.Meanwhile, Congress stitched a six-party alliance in the last minute, including the Left and the regional forces, but failed to produce results. Bora later said he would continue serving the party but would not contest elections again.
