The 2023 delimitation exercise brought significant changes to the electoral map of Udalguri district. Earlier, the district had three Assembly constituencies, Udalguri, Panery and Majbat. While Udalguri and Majbat were retained with altered boundaries, Panery was abolished, and two new constituencies, Tangla and Bhergaon, were carved out with redrawn boundaries and redistributed voters.
Being a new constituency, Bhergaon has no previous history of Assembly elections. The only window to gauge the mood of its voters came during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP led the Bodo People’s Front (BPF) by 34,935 votes in the Bhergaon segment. BJP’s Darrang-Udalguri Lok Sabha candidate Dilip Saikia polled 68,980 votes, compared to 34,045 votes received by Durgadas Boro of the BPF. Madhab Rajbangshi of the Congress party finished a distant third with 13,204 votes. Bhergaon made its electoral debut with high enthusiasm, recording 78.39 per cent turnout in 2024.
Bhergaon had 160,803 eligible voters on its final electoral roll for the 2026 Assembly elections, witnessing a marginal decline of 163 voters from 160,986 voters it had in 2024 following the SIR 2025.
Demographics, based on available data, largely from the 2011 Census proportions adjusted for the area and 2023 delimitation changes, indicate a mixed electorate with a notable presence of Bodo and other indigenous communities, alongside Assamese-speaking groups and smaller non-tribal populations. The constituency remains overwhelmingly rural, with the vast majority of voters living in villages and engaged in agriculture.
The Bhergaon constituency covers parts of the Udalguri district in central Assam with flat alluvial plains and gentle undulations typical of the Brahmaputra Valley foothills. The terrain supports paddy cultivation, vegetable farming, and horticulture, but is prone to seasonal flooding from tributaries of the Brahmaputra. Livelihoods in Bhergaon depend mainly on agriculture, small trade, and forest-related activities in nearby patches. Fertile soils and abundant rainfall sustain these activities. Infrastructure includes road connectivity via national and state highways linking to nearby areas, with rail access available at nearby stations like Tangla or Udalguri, about 10-20 km away depending on the village. Basic amenities serve the villages, with ongoing developments in rural roads and irrigation.
The nearest major town is Udalguri, the district headquarters, about 20-25 km away. Other nearby towns include Mangaldai to the south, roughly 35-45 km away, and Rangia farther south. The state capital, Dispur/Guwahati, lies around 85-100 km southeast.
Given the BJP’s strong performance in 2024 in the Bhergaon Assembly segment and its comfortable lead in that election, and the fact that the BJP’s new ally, BPF, had finished second, the balance already tilts in favour of the BJP-led alliance in the 2026 elections. The BPF’s decision to join the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance and become its constituent may act as a force multiplier. The BPF has fielded Maheswar Baro as its candidate on behalf of the state’s ruling alliance, while the Congress party has named Nerswn Boro as the choice of the opposition alliance. The BJP’s estranged ally, the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) has named Anchula Gwra Daimary as its candidate. In addition to them, there are five more candidates in the fray to ensure Bhergaon witnesses a multi-cornered contest. They include Dipak Rajbongshi of the Gana Suraksha Party, Prabhat Das Panika of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Bonoy Kumar Basumatary of the Voters Party International, Swarnlata Chaliha of the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist), and Subrata Shill, an Independent.
The Congress and the UPPL might end up splitting the anti-incumbency votes, giving the BPF, with full support of the BJP and the AGP, an edge in what promises to be a close and intriguing contest in Bhergaon’s maiden Assembly election in 2026.
(Ajay Jha)
