Manas is a general (unreserved) assembly constituency in Baksa district of Lower Assam and forms one of the segments of the Kokrajhar (ST) Lok Sabha constituency. Created in 2023 following the recommendations of the Delimitation Commission to redistribute voters more evenly across Assam’s 126 Assembly seats, the constituency consists of areas that were mostly within the now-abolished Sorbhog, Bhabanipur, and some minor areas of Chapaguri (ST) constituencies.
Following the delimitation, the Sorbhog, Bhabanipur and Chapaguri (ST) constituencies ceased to exist and were reorganised under the newly formed Manas, Baksa (ST), and Bhowanipur-Sorbhog constituencies.
The Manas constituency covers villages along the Manas River and the buffer zones of the Manas National Park. It has a predominantly rural character with a large number of villages under its coverage and remains dominated by agrarian communities and Bodo tribal groups, typical of the Bodoland region in Lower Assam.
Being a new constituency, Manas has no Assembly electoral history and will vote for the first time in its new identity in the 2026 Assembly elections. However, it participated in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, where the trend favoured the NDA alliance. In the Manas segment of the Kokrajhar Lok Sabha constituency, the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) led the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) by 10,696 votes. UPPL’s Joyanta Basumatary polled 68,623 votes compared to 57,927 votes cast in favour of BPF’s Kampa Borgoyari, out of a total of 162,239 valid votes polled in the Manas segment that year.
The predecessor Sorbhog constituency was a general (unreserved) assembly constituency and had participated in 15 assembly elections during its existence between 1951 and 2023. Congress held the seat five times and the CPI(M) won the seat six times. In recent years, it seemed that the BJP had the lead, winning consecutive elections in 2011 and 2016, but lost to the CPI(M) in 2021.
The other predecessor, Bhabanipur constituency, had seen 12 general assembly elections and three by-elections since its establishment in 1962, with Congress winning four elections, the Asom Gana Parishad and the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) winning thrice each. The AIUDF’s winning candidate, Phanidhar Talukdar, however, resigned his seat to join the BJP, thus necessitating a by-election that same year. In the 2021 by-election, Phanidhar Talukdar, now part of the BJP, convincingly won the seat.
Manas seat had 204,641 eligible voters on the final roll for the 2026 Assembly elections, witnessing a slight increase from 203,480 in 2024. The voter turnout was high at 79.73 per cent in 2024.
Demographics, based on available data largely from the 2011 Census proportions adjusted for the area and delimitation changes, indicate a notable Scheduled Tribe presence, along with Scheduled Castes, as well as a significant Muslim presence of up to 40 per cent. The constituency features a mix of Bodo tribal communities, other indigenous groups, and non-tribal settlers, contributing to its rural character.
The Manas constituency covers parts of the Baksa district in Lower Assam with flat alluvial plains of the Brahmaputra Valley and gentle undulations. The terrain supports paddy cultivation, vegetable farming, and some horticulture, but is prone to seasonal flooding from the Beki and Manas rivers and their tributaries. Livelihoods in Manas depend mainly on paddy cultivation, small trade, agriculture-related activities, and emerging services. Infrastructure includes good road connectivity via state highways linking to nearby areas, rail access at Goreswar Railway Station about 20-40 km away, depending on the village, and basic amenities with ongoing developments in rural roads, irrigation, and local markets.
The nearest major town is Mushalpur, the Baksa district headquarters, about 20-30 km away. Other nearby towns include Barama to the south about 15-20 km away, and Tamulpur further south, about 30-40 km away. The state capital, Dispur/Guwahati, lies around 100-120 km east. The constituency lies close to the international border with Bhutan in the north, with the foothills at a distance of around 10-20 km in parts. The area is known for its proximity to the Manas National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and tiger reserve famous for one-horned rhinos, tigers, elephants and rich biodiversity.
The Manas constituency is set to go to the 2026 Assam Legislative Assembly elections as a new battleground with old players, as its voting patterns remain untested. The Manas constituency will witness the direct consequence of a recent political development in the state. The UPPL walked out of the ruling alliance, and the BPF has become part of it. As a result, the BJP-led ruling alliance has allocated the Manas seat to BPF, which has fielded Thaneswar Basumatary as its candidate. The Raijor Dal is contesting the seat on behalf of the Congress-led opposition alliance with Anjan Talukdar as its nominee. The UPPL, which is contesting the Assam polls independently, has fielded Jwngsrang Brahma as its candidate, while the AIUDF has given its ticket to Md. Bilal Ahmed. Two other state parties, GSP and BGP, have fielded Naba Kumar Sarania and Pintu Ghosh, respectively, as their candidates. In addition to these six candidates, four Independents have also entered the fray, making the upcoming Manas election a multi-cornered contest. If the voting trend in the 2024 parliamentary polls in the Manas segment is any indication, the contest is expected to be competitive. This sets the stage for an intriguing contest in the Manas constituency in the 2026 Assam Assembly elections.
(Ajay Jha)
