By Dr. Gyan Pathak
Assam and Puducherry have recorded s heavy polling trend right from 7 AM on April 9, 2026 when voting started. Assam recorded a significant voter turnout of 59.63 per cent by 1 PM, while in Puducherry the polling percentage reached 56 per cent by that time. By 3 PM 75.91 per cent votes were polled in Assam, while Puducherry polled 72.4 per cent.
The trend of heavy voting has worried the BJP most, because it is ruling Assam led by CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, while it is ally in Puducherry government led by AINRC leader N Rangaswamy, and the heavy polling has obviously raised the stakes of the BJP very high.
In Assam, the high-stake electoral battle is chiefly between the BJP and Congress. All the 126 Legislative Assembly constituencies are polling, in which over 2.5 crore voters are expected to vote. BJP-led NDA under the leadership of the chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is seeking for his second term, and third term for BJP.
The chief opposition party is Congress in this bipolar high stake electoral battle. The Congress led alliance led by Gaurav Gogoi is trying its best to wrest power from the BJP after a decade of the BJP-led NDA rule in the state.
Apart from the BJP and Congress led alliances, there are also regional political parties which have considerable electoral support bases in certain pockets or regions. Such political parties include All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), Raijor Dal, and Assam Jatiya Parishad. These regional parties are also seen in upbeat mood, because they hope they are also getting considerable number of votes.
The heavy polling pattern has made the state BJP leadership tense, much more than yesterday, when the BJP’s state unit alleged that Assam Congress leaders are circulating “forged documents of foreign governments” with an intention to influence the state assembly polls and had urged the voters to beware of such attempts.
It should be noted that just on the penultimate day, CM Himanta had alleged that the Congress had got forged documents from Pakistan operators and its spokespersons Pawan Khera in Delhi and Gaurav Gogoi in Guwahati falsely alleged that his wife had passports of three foreign countries. Later, Assam police have raided Pawan Khera’s residences on the FIR registered by Himanta’s wife Rinki Bhuyan. Himanta has earlier alleged that Congress leaders Gaurav’s wife had Pakistan connections.
In today’s heavy polling, the allegations raised by Himanta and Gaurav against each other’s wives, seem to be a factor. Another factor is Bangladeshi infiltrators. Since the reference of Bangladesh and Pakistan is indirect reference to Muslims, the entire political milieu has polarized on religious sentiments. Assam identity politics seemed also to be operating, but then it divides the Hindus in Assamese and non-Assamese or chiefly Bengali Hindu voters. All these have made the Assam election of this year more complex than it was expected in early phases of election.
Young voters and women were seen participating in the polling in very large number, which is indicative of their likely impact on the final outcome of result. There has been about 5.02 per cent of expansion of young voters in the state.
CM Himanta Biswa Sarma is seeking his sixth consecutive term from Jalukbari constituency while Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi is contesting from Jorhat Legislative Assembly constituency. Both are CM faces for BJP and Congress respectively.
NDA in Assam has four political parties – BJP, RHJM, AGP, and BPF. The Congress led alliance includes RD, AJP, CPI(M), APHLC and CPI(ML)-L. Heavy polling in the sates is indicative of very close contest between the two alliances. Presence of AIUDF, TMC, AAP, JMM, UPPL, CPI, and NPP has only increased the complexity since they have significant support base in many areas. Though, BJP seems to have upper hand, but the heavy polling has increased uncertainties, especially in the backdrop of several controversies that are going against the BJP this time.
In the Union Territory of Puducherry, N Rangaswamy’s AINRC is expecting its fourth win. All the 30 Legislative Assembly seats are polling, and a great enthusiasm is seen among voters.
The contest in Puducherry is chiefly between the AINRC-BJP-AIADMK-LJK alliance and Congress-DMK-VCK alliance. Actor Vijay’s party TVK is also contesting for the first time, and it seems that his party has also been able to get support from large number of voters. TVK-NMK is the third alliance in the state.
By 1 PM, Puducherry recorded about 56 per cent of votes and long queue before the polling stations. On many seats, there seems to be three corner contest that has make the election outcome very much uncertain. Puducherry does not seem heading towards a clear victory for AINRC led NDA, which has made the BJP leaders tense. (IPA Service)
