How Delimitation Has Redrawn Guwahati’s Electoral Map for 2026

Guwahati: The 2026 Assam Assembly election will mark the first in many ways to Guwahati. In the state capital, voters will be going to the polling booth under a completely new constituency map, having undergone the 2023 delimitation exercise which re-drew Assembly boundaries in the city.

Some of the known constituencies that formed the politics of Guwahati over decades ago, such as Gauhati East and Gauhati West, do not exist anymore. They have been replaced by new seats like the New Guwahati and Guwahati Central, which not only change the names on the ballot, but also neighbourhood associations, voter configurations and party formulas.

To a large number of the worried residents, this will be a new constituency which they have previously never resided in with a candidate which they are not conversant with.

The Reason Why Map of Guwahati Was Redrawn

In 2023, the Election Commission of India commenced the delimitation exercise in Assam which is the first such exercise within the state since 1976. According to officials, Guwahati had grown rapidly and without balance over the decades and a reorganisation in the city was necessary to create equal representation between the voters across the constituencies.

There were also seats that have significantly exceeded the typical size of a voter, and those that were underperforming, and it was necessary to redistribute territories and form more equal constituencies.

Old Seats Out, New Ones In

Prior to delimitation, Guwahati was mostly divided into four Assembly constituencies namely Gauhati East, Gauhati West, Dispur and Jalukbari. Following the redraw, the city is now divided among five seats, New Guwahati, Guwahati Central, Dispur, Jalukbari and Dimoria.

The developments have moved some of the neighbourhoods to new political jurisdictions.

Jyotikuchi, Lokhra and Basistha, which used to be a constituent of Gauhati west, are now within Dispur. Rupnagar, Rehabari and Paltanbazar once Gauhati East voters have shifted to Guwahati Central. Geetanagar, Bamunimaidam and Narengi have been renamed New Guwahati and Sonapur, Chandrapur and Panikhaiti renamed Dimoria instead of Dispur.

The effect of such changes is that voters are no longer represented by the same MLA that they elected previously and will also be forced to realize new politics players.

What Makes 2026 Different

It will be the first Assembly election on new boundaries in Guwahati. In turn, political parties will be forced to redefine their strategies because the old vote bases of the parties and neighbourhood blocks have been rearranged. The candidates will also be contacting the voters with various local priority and concerns.

The change is equally important to residents, where new names of constituencies, new political candidates and new political stories will characterize the election.

The Final Poll Under the Bogged Map

When the 2021 Assembly elections took place, Guwahati cast its ballot under the previous boundaries. Himanta Biswa Sarma from Jalukbari, Atul Bora from Dispur, Siddhartha Bhattacharya from Gauhati East and Ramendra Narayan Kalita from Gauhati West were the MLAs who had been elected then.

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