Akhil Gogoi’s Raijor Dal May Go Solo in Assam Polls as Alliance Talks with Congress Falter

Raijor Dal president and Sivasagar MLA Akhil Gogoi has signaled that his party may contest the upcoming 2026 Assam Assembly elections alone, suggesting a major rift in the opposition alliance. On March 6, 2026, shortly after the Congress and three other parties announced a pre-poll pact, Gogoi posted a cryptic message in Assamese on social media translated as: “The final attempt failed, too…” The development follows weeks of public tension over seat-sharing, with Raijor Dal demanding 15 seats while the Congress remained firm on contesting 100 of the 126 available constituencies.

The friction between the two parties escalated earlier in the week when both released candidate lists for overlapping seats. On March 4, Raijor Dal named 11 candidates, including nominees for constituencies where Congress had already fielded its own choices, such as the eastern Assam seat being contested by the son of MP Pradyut Bordoloi. Gogoi has criticized the Congress’s candidate selection, describing it as a product of “dynasty and family politics.” While the two parties remain allies “on paper,” Gogoi’s recent remarks indicate that the “final attempt” to resolve their differences has failed, potentially leading to a multi-cornered contest in the elections expected this April.