Pradyut Bordoloi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from the Dispur Assembly constituency, expressed confidence on Monday that Assam will have a "BJP-led government" as the counting of votes for the Assam Assembly Elections 2026 commenced.
Speaking ahead of the counting, Bordoloi said, "The counting of votes is going to start very soon now. You can feel it throughout Assam that people have voted overwhelmingly for the BJP and BJP-led NDA. I'm sure that by evening today, the people of Assam will have given a very firm mandate that there'll be a successive BJP-led government and Himanta Biswa Sarma will be the Chief Minister again."
Counting agents from various political parties gathered at the strong room of five Legislative Assembly constituencies under Kamrup (Metro) district at Maniram Dewan Trade Centre in Guwahati prior to the start of counting.
The counting of votes across all 126 Assembly constituencies in Assam is scheduled to begin at 8 am under tight security and close monitoring by election authorities. Postal ballot counting will start at 8:00 am, followed by electronic voting machine (EVM) counting from 8:30 am at 14 dedicated tables per centre.
The Election Commission designated 52 counting locations across 35 districts, including universities such as Bodoland University (Kokrajhar) and Bhattadev University (Bajali), and colleges such as Nalbari College and Karimganj College. Several Higher Secondary and Multi-Purpose schools are also being utilised, including the Government Boys HS & MP School in Kokrajhar and Dawson HS & MP School in Nagaon.
In districts such as Goalpara, Majuli and Dima Hasao, counting will take place at the Office of the District Commissioner. Other venues include the Maniram Dewan Trade Centre in Guwahati (Kamrup Metro) and the Inter-State Truck Terminal in Cachar.
Security is being strictly maintained across counting centres. In Lakhimpur district, a three-layer security cordon has been established at the Lakhimpur Government Higher Secondary School to protect the process for five key Assembly constituencies. In Sivasagar district, 391 officials have been deployed to oversee the Demow, Sivasagar and Nazira constituencies.
Assam conducted its first phase of polling on April 9. The BJP-led alliance is seeking a third consecutive victory in a state traditionally dominated by the Congress party.
In response, Congress formed a six-party alliance to avoid splitting the anti-BJP vote and present a united front in the northeastern state, which has 126 assembly seats.
Exit polls forecast that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is likely to retain power for a third term. Axis My India projected the NDA would win 88 to 100 seats and the Congress-led alliance 24 to 36 seats. JVC predicted 88 to 101 seats for the NDA and 23 to 33 for the Congress alliance, allocating zero to two seats to AIUDF and three to other parties. Matrize forecast 85 to 95 seats for the BJP-led alliance, 25 to 32 for the Congress alliance, and six to 12 for others.