Badruddin Ajmal-led AIUDF to go solo in Assam Assembly polls, to contest 35 seats

Guwahati: In a major political development in the run up to Assembly elections in Assam, Badruddin Ajmal-led AIUDF on Thursday announced to contest the polls without any pre-poll alliance and fight at least 35 seats.

This was decided in a meeting of the MLAs of AIUDF and other senior leaders at the Mumbai residence of Ajmal, a vice-president and MLA of the party, Aminul Islam said. AIUDF at present has 14 MLAs in the House of 126.

Islam said the AIUDF decided to go solo as no other party showed any interest for a pre-poll alliance. "Today's meeting made it clear that a decision regarding a post-poll alliance will be taken based on the situation then," he said.

Possible implications

Islam said they are confident about a good show as the AIUDF had contested the elections on its own in the past too. "We fought the elections in a seat-sharing arrangement with Congress in the Assembly elections in 2021 only. We contested the polls on our own since formation of the party in 2005. We had won 18 seats even when we fought the elections alone," he said.

AIUDF and Congress contested the 2021 Assembly elections on seat sharing arrangement and Ajmal's party won 15 seats. Congress, however, severed ties with AIUDF ahead of Lok Sabha elections in 2024. AIUDF, however, drew a blank in the Lok Sabha polls and even its chief Ajmal lost the Dhubri seat to Congress's Rakibul Hussain.

The decision, however, carry the possibility of division in the votes of the Muslims, constituting about 35% of Assam's population, between the AIUDF and Congress. This, according to poll observers, may hamper both Congress and AIUDF and benefit ruling BJP and its regional allies, AGP and UPPL, who have set the target of retaining power in Assam for the third straight term. BJP is banking on its Hindutva poll plank and have been constantly targeting both Congress and AIUDF as parties of "illegal migrants" from neighbouring Bangladesh. The long problem of illegal migration plays a key role in elections in Assam.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma recently said that the BJP and its allies would "finish AIUDF's politics" in the 2026 polls.

Congress, on the other hand, is against having a pre-poll alliance with AIUDF in order to get back the seats in Upper Assam, where the indigenous Assamese voters call the shots and have traditionally dominated elections and politics in the state. "If we again join hands with Ajmal's party, BJP will again get the opportunity to target us as partners of illegal migrants like it did in 2021 polls. This may keep the indigenous voters away from us," a Congress leader said.