Himanta sets NDA target of all 126 seats in 2031 at Samaguri rally

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Sunday that the NDA's next aim is to win every one of the state's 126 Assembly seats in the 2031 election. He was speaking in Samaguri, in Nagaon district, at his first public meeting in the constituency since the BJP won the Nagaon Lok Sabha by-election last month, The Times of India reported.

The gathering was held at the playground of Rupahi Higher Secondary School. According to India Today NE, Sarma flew in by helicopter, landing at Fakhli Eidgah in Rupahihat, and was then taken to the venue in a procession of party workers and supporters. Thousands of people attended.

Keeping a campaign promise

During the bypoll campaign, Sarma had said he would personally come to Rupahihat and celebrate with voters there if the NDA candidate, Devasish Sharma, won. Sunday's event was organised to keep that promise.

Greeting the crowd on the occasion of Diwali and Kali Puja, the chief minister said he had told people during the Nagaon election that he would visit Samaguri, and that he had now come to meet them. He said the new MP and the local MLA would work for the constituency's development and that he would back them.

"Development work will happen gradually. Everything will fall into place, one step at a time. The target is to win 126 in the next assembly polls," Sarma said, as quoted by The Times of India.

The bypoll result

Voting in the Nagaon by-election took place on October 6 and votes were counted on October 9. Sharma, a former IAS officer who had earlier served as Nagaon's deputy commissioner, defeated AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal by 1,42,224 votes, according to official results reported at the time. Congress candidate Sibamoni Bora came third.

The seat had been held by the Congress since 2019, when it ended a run of four consecutive BJP wins by Rajen Gohain that began in 1999. Pradyut Bordoloi of the Congress won it in 2019 and again in 2024. The BJP polled about half the votes in this year's bypoll.

After the result, Sarma had pointed to the constituency's large religious minority electorate, saying the party had won despite more than six lakh minority voters and had also drawn a significant share of their votes.

The Congress and the AIUDF did not comment on the chief minister's remarks on Sunday in the reports available so far.