Assam will vote in just a single phase on April 9 for the upcoming assembly elections. The polling, which will be held alongside those in Kerala and the union territory (UT) of Puducherry, will be held in all of the northeast state's 126 assembly constituencies. This includes the Kaliabor assembly constituency.
The Kaliabor assembly constituency, established in 1951, comes in the Nagaon district of Assam. A general seat, this constituency falls in the Kaziranga Lok Sabha constituency, which has nine other assembly seats as well. Initially, the Congress had some hold on this seat, but since 1996, the Kaliabor assembly constituency has been a stronghold of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP).
According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), the Kaliabor assembly constituency witnessed a voter turnout of 84.91 per cent in the 2021 assembly polls. In the 2016 assembly elections, the voter turnout here was 85.97 per cent.
A stronghold of AGP
This seat is a bastion of the AGP, which is a key alliance partner of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). In the 1996 and 2001 assembly polls, this seat was won by AGP's Gunin Hazarika. But since 2001, the Kaliabor assembly constituency has been represented by AGP heavyweight Keshab Mahanta.
During the previous elections in Assam in 2021, Mahanta defeated Congress candidate Prasanta Kumar Saikia by a margin of around 29,000 votes. He had received 73,677 or 59.06 per cent votes, while Saikia received 44,957 or 36.40 per cent votes.
A biangular contest
This year, the Kaliabor assembly constituency contest between AGP's Mahanta and Raijor Dal's Pradip Kumar Baruah. The Raijor Dal is in an alliance with Congress, which is also looking to make a comeback in the state after losing the power to the BJP in the 2016 assembly elections. As per the seat-sharing agreement finalised by Raijor Dal and Congress, the former will contest on 11 seats. But there will also be a friendly contest between them on two constituencies.
The voting in Assam will be held on April 9, and the results will be declared on May 4.
ALSO READ - Kaliabor Assembly Election 2026: Constituency profile, past winners, margin and party-wise candidates
