Assam poised for polarising poll fight in 2026 as Congress pits Gaurav Gogoi against Himanta Biswa Sarma

Assam is bracing for a high-stakes showdown in the 2026 assembly elections, with the Congress high command appointing Gaurav Gogoi the new president of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC). He has been repeatedly attacked by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma over his former’s wife’s alleged links with the Pakistani government – a charge the former has categorically denied. By entrusting him with key responsibility, the Congress had pitted Gaurav against Sarma.

These will be first polls under Sarma’s leadership as he was made chief minister after the polls, when Sarbananda Sonowal accepted BJP leadership’s call to shift to the Centre. For Gaurav, too, it will be a first – helming the state polls directly.

Sarma had earlier served as a minister during Gaurav’s father Tarun Gogoi’s tenure as CM. Senior Gogoi was the longest serving CM of the state. It was then that Sarma developed differences with the CM as he also apparently nurtured political ambitions. Sarma later quit Congress to join the BJP. Since then, Sarma has not been on good terms with the Gogois. After Tarun’s demise, the rivalry seems to have shifted to his son, Gaurav.

Earlier, Gaurav had also levelled allegations of impropriety against Sarma’s wife. Sarma questioned Gaurav’s wife Elizabeth Colburn’s – a British national – work for Pakistani agency. A case has been registered, with the CM alleging that Colburn had travelled to Pakistan 19 times.

Sarma, recently, accused Gaurav of visiting Pakistan on the invite of the interior ministry. “I reiterate, with full authority and responsibility as the Chief Minister of Assam, that Shri Gaurab Gogoi, Member of Parliament from Assam, visited Pakistan at the invitation of the Ministry of Interior of the Government of Pakistan. He spent several days there. We are enquiring further into the details surrounding this visit and related associations.”

But now, Congress has thrown its weight firmly behind Gogoi. AICC secretary Jitendra Singh hailed Gaurav for his "leadership, integrity, and relentless commitment", while announcing his appointment.

The revamped Congress team includes senior leaders like Debabrata Saikia, Pradyut Bordoloi, Rakibul Hussain, and Ripun Bora in key campaign positions, signalling an aggressive push to reclaim lost ground. Former APCC chief Bhupen Borah has been moved to lead the Campaign Committee, indicating continuity alongside generational change.

With the BJP sharpening its attacks and Congress projecting Gaurav as the face of its revival, Assam is poised for one of its most polarising electoral duels in recent history. The Congress statement directly targeted Sarma’s government, accusing it of “corruption, authoritarianism” and “weaponizing welfare schemes for political coercion”.

The Congress’s decision for an organisational overhaul in the state could also be linked to the recent landslide victory scored by BJP-led NDA in Assam’s panchayat elections. The BJP-AGP alliance won 300 out of 397 Zila Parishad seats, and 1,436 out of 2,192 Anchalik Panchayat seats.

The performance had come as a big boost for the Assam chief minister under whose leadership the party would again go to polls in March 2026. The BJP alone won 272 seats, while the AGP took 28.

For the Congress, the results are a wake-up call. The Congress’s share had plummeted from 35 per cent in 2018 to just 18 per cent, with the party failing to win a single Zila Parishad seat in Jorhat, in upper Assam, Gaurav’s stronghold.

Now, the focus will shift to assembly polls due in 2026. Sarma claims that the party would win 100 of the 126 assembly seats. Last time, it had won 64.

With Gaurav now officially leading the charge, observers believe Assam’s 2026 assembly polls may morph into a personal and political gladiatorial contest between two prominent leaders of the state: one, the chief minister with a reputation for political machismo, the other a Congressman with a legacy, and a point to prove.