PM to visit Assam from Jan 17; to unveil Amrit Bharat trains, Kaziranga corridor
Guwahati (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting Assam from Saturday for two days, during which he is scheduled to flag off two Amrit Bharat trains and lay the foundation stone for the Kaziranga elevated corridor, an official said.
Modi's visit to the northeastern state, where assembly elections are due in the first half of 2026, will be his second tour in less than a month.
Soon after his arrival here on the evening of January 17, the PM is set to witness the Bodo folk dance 'Bagurumba' by 10,000 performers at the Arjun Bhogeswar Barua Sports stadium in the city, the official said on Friday.
Modi will leave for Kaliabor the next day to lay the foundation stone for the Rs 6,957 crore Kaziranga elevated corridor, he said.
The prime minister is expected to flag off virtually two Amrit Bharat Express trains, Dibrugarh-Gomti Nagar (Lucknow) and Kamakhya-Rohtak, and address a public meeting at Kaliabor, he said.
Modi had come to Assam on a two-day visit from December 20 to inaugurate the new terminal of Guwahati international airport and unveil the statue of Assam’s first Chief Minister Gopinath Bardaloi after whom the airport is named.
The PM had also laid the foundation stone for a Rs 10,601-crore brownfield ammonia-urea plant in Dibrugarh.
During his last visit, Modi addressed public meetings in Guwahati and Namrup, where he had set the tone for the 2026 Assam assembly elections.
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Voting begins for Assam's 126 assembly seats
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Guwahati (PTI): Polling for all 126 Assam assembly constituencies began on Thursday to decide the electoral fate of 722 candidates, officials said.
In the high-stakes election, the ruling BJP is aiming for a third consecutive term in office, while the Congress seeks to wrest power after being ousted in 2016.
Polling, being held in a single phase, began at 7 am and will conclude at 5 pm. Long queues of voters were seen outside polling stations from early morning.
An electorate of 2.50 crore, including 1.25 crore women and 318 from the third gender, can exercise their franchise in 31,490 polling stations across the state.
Prominent candidates include Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Congress state president Gaurav Gogoi, assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary, Leader of the opposition Debabrata Saikia, AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal, Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi, and Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) chief Lurinjyoti Gogoi.
Several cabinet ministers, including the AGP’s Atul Bora and Keshav Mahanta, and the BPF’s Charan Boro are also in the fray.
The Congress has the highest of 99 contestants, followed by the BJP (90), AIUDF (30), NDA allies AGP (26) and BPF (11).
Opposition alliance’s Raijor Dal is contesting in 13, AJP in 10, CPI(M) in 3 and APHLC in 2. Outside the two coalitions, the AAP is contesting in 18 seats, UPPL in 18, TMC 22, JMM 16 and there are 258 independents.
The ruling NDA’s main constituents are the BJP, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Bodo Peoples’ Front (BPF) while the opposition alliance comprises the Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), CPI(M), All Party Hill Leaders Conference (APHLC) and CPI(ML).
The counting of votes is scheduled on May 4.
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