State / UT
Assam
Assam is a constituent state of the Indian Union, recognised as a state when the Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950, and the residual territory left after Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram were carved out of it between 1963 and 1972. It is the most populous state of the Northeast, with 31.2 million people at the 2011 Census, and its government is answerable to a unicameral 126-member Legislative Assembly at Dispur; it sends 14 members to the Lok Sabha and 7 to the Rajya Sabha. Its distinctive structural feature is that citizenship itself is administered differently here: the Assam Accord of 1985 and Section 6A of the Citizenship Act fix a 24 March 1971 cut-off unique to the state, and large parts of its hill and Bodo-majority territory are governed through Sixth Schedule autonomous councils rather than ordinary district administration.
Updated
- Capital
- Dispur (within Guwahati)
- Formed
- 26 January 1950 as a constituent state of the Republic
- Legislature
- Unicameral — Assam Legislative Assembly, 126 seats (16 reserved ST, 8 reserved SC after the 2023 delimitation)
- Lok Sabha seats
- 14
- Rajya Sabha seats
- 7
- Population (2011 Census)
- 31.2 million
- GSDP (2026-27, budget estimate)
- ₹8,71,451 crore
- Special constitutional provision
- Article 371B — a committee of the Assembly of members elected from the tribal areas
Role
Assam is the pivot state of India’s Northeast and, in constitutional terms, the parent of four others. Everything east and south of the Siliguri corridor was administered from here in 1950; Nagaland (1963), Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram (1972) were successively carved out of it, leaving Assam as the residual unit with the region’s largest population — 31.2 million at the 2011 Census — and its densest concentration of Union infrastructure. Its government is a conventional Westminster state government: a Governor appointed by the Centre, a Chief Minister and council of ministers responsible to a unicameral 126-seat Legislative Assembly at Dispur, exercising the State List subjects of police, land, agriculture, health and school education. Its weight in the Union is moderate — 14 Lok Sabha seats and 7 in the Rajya Sabha — and its fiscal position is that of a transfer-dependent state: against a 2026-27 GSDP estimate of ₹8,71,451 crore, the post-election budget presented on 10 July 2026 provides for ₹1,48,029 crore of expenditure excluding debt repayment with a fiscal deficit of 3% of GSDP and ₹21,315 crore of net borrowing, and about 64% of its revenue receipts come from the Centre.
What makes Assam structurally distinct is that two questions ordinarily settled uniformly across India — who is a citizen, and who administers a district — are settled differently here. The Assam Accord of 1985 and Section 6A of the Citizenship Act create a cut-off date of 24 March 1971 that applies to no other state, and the Supreme Court-supervised NRC published on 31 August 2019 attempted to enumerate the state’s citizen population against it, excluding roughly 19 lakh people whose status is still worked out through Foreigners’ Tribunals. Alongside that, large parts of the territory are governed not by the state’s ordinary district administration but through Sixth Schedule autonomous councils — the Bodoland Territorial Region, restructured by the 2020 Bodo Accord and enlarged in competence, and the Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao councils in the hills — so that Dispur negotiates with elected sub-state authorities holding constitutionally entrenched powers over land and local subjects. Article 371B adds a further layer, requiring a committee of the Assembly drawn from tribal-area members. The relationship with the Centre runs through this machinery as much as through finance: the Accord, the NRC, the Bodo and Karbi settlements and even the 2023 delimitation were Union-driven exercises conducted in Assam alone, and the 2026 general election to the Assembly was the first fought on the boundaries they produced. The Assembly elected in 2026 has since passed a state Uniform Civil Code, which received the President’s assent on 29 September 2026 and awaits a state notification bringing it into force.
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Timeline since 1947
- reference
Assam recognised as a state of the Republic
The province that had joined independent India on 15 August 1947 became a constituent state when the Constitution came into force. Article 371B was later added to provide for a committee of the Legislative Assembly drawn from members elected from the tribal areas.
- reference
Nagaland carved out
The Naga Hills district was separated to form Nagaland, the first of four successor states to be taken out of Assam's 1950 boundaries.
- reference
Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram separated
Meghalaya became a state and the North East Frontier Agency (Arunachal Pradesh) and the Mizo Hills (Mizoram) became Union Territories; both attained statehood in 1986. Assam was reduced to roughly its present shape, and the Assembly settled at 126 seats.
- reference
Assam Accord signed
A memorandum of settlement between the Union Government and the leaders of the 1979-85 Assam Movement ended the agitation over undocumented migration. It fixed 24 March 1971 as the cut-off for detecting and expelling foreigners, treated pre-1966 entrants as citizens, and committed the Centre to constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards for the Assamese people (Clause 6). Section 6A was inserted into the Citizenship Act to give the cut-off statutory effect — a citizenship regime applying to Assam alone.
- reference
Bodoland Territorial Council created under the Sixth Schedule
A memorandum of settlement established the BTC over four western districts, with the council beginning provisional functioning on 7 December 2003 and its first elections held in May 2005 for a 40-member body.
- reference
Final National Register of Citizens published
The Supreme Court-supervised NRC update, unique to Assam, included 3,11,21,004 persons of 3,30,27,661 applicants and excluded about 19,06,657. Excluded persons were left to appeal to Foreigners' Tribunals. A 2022 CAG audit reported irregularities and a cost escalation from ₹288.18 crore to ₹1,602.66 crore.
- reference
Bodo Accord signed; BTC area renamed the Bodoland Territorial Region
A tripartite agreement between the Union Government, the Government of Assam and Bodo organisations including the NDFB and ABSU. It widened the council's competence across almost all Sixth Schedule subjects and provided for expanding its membership to 60. The BTR now comprises Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa, Tamulpur and Udalguri districts.
- reference
Election Commission publishes the final delimitation order for Assam
The ECI redrew Assam's parliamentary and assembly boundaries — a state-specific exercise conducted while delimitation elsewhere remains frozen. Totals were held at 126 assembly and 14 Lok Sabha seats, but reservation was reworked to 16 ST and 8 SC assembly seats, and constituencies were renamed, including the Autonomous District parliamentary seat to Diphu.
- official
First assembly election on the redrawn map; results declared
Polling for all 126 seats was held on 9 April 2026 and results declared on 4 May 2026, ahead of the outgoing House's term ending on 20 May 2026. Turnout was 85.96% of 2,49,58,139 registered electors, up 3.54 percentage points on 2021. On the Election Commission's party-wise count the BJP won 82 seats and its allies the Bodoland People's Front and the Asom Gana Parishad 10 each — 102 for the National Democratic Alliance — against 19 for the Congress, 2 each for the AIUDF and Raijor Dal and 1 for the Trinamool Congress. The UPPL, a partner in the outgoing government, had left the NDA over seat-sharing on 17 March 2026.
- official
Assembly passes the Uniform Civil Code, Assam, Bill, 2026
In the first session of the 16th Assembly the House passed a bill setting one civil framework for marriage, divorce, succession and live-in relationships for all residents, replacing religion-based personal law. Scheduled Tribes are excluded to preserve constitutional protections and customary practice; the bill mandates monogamy, sets a marriage age of 21 for men and 18 for women and requires registration of marriages. Because it touches Concurrent List subjects covered by central law it was reserved for the President's assent.
- reference
Post-election 2026-27 budget presented and passed
The new government presented its full 2026-27 budget on 10 July 2026, projecting GSDP at ₹8,71,451 crore (17% nominal growth), expenditure excluding debt repayment of ₹1,48,029 crore, a balanced revenue account and a fiscal deficit of 3% of GSDP (₹26,186 crore), against a revised 6.7% for 2025-26. About 64% of revenue receipts are budgeted to come from the Centre. The Assembly passed the Appropriation (No. II) Bill unanimously in July, authorising withdrawals of about ₹1.56 lakh crore.
- gdelt
Revised heritage-land amendment passed
The Assembly passed a revised amendment to the Assam Land Revenue and Regulation Act restricting land transactions within 5 km of religious heritage structures more than 250 years old, such as Barpeta Sattra and the Majuli sattras, and redefining an 'original inhabitant' as a family resident for three generations (25 years each) up to 1 January 2006. A 2024 amendment on the same lines had never come into force.
- gdelt
Uniform Civil Code, Assam receives the President's assent
The President assented to Assam's UCC on 29 September 2026, twelve days after assenting to Gujarat's, making Assam the third state with comprehensive UCC legislation after Uttarakhand and Gujarat. The code's substantive provisions take effect only from a date the state government notifies, with implementing rules still to be framed.
Frequently asked
- What is Assam?
- Assam is a constituent state of the Indian Union, recognised as a state when the Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950, and the residual territory left after Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram were carved out of it between 1963 and 1972. It is the most populous state of the Northeast, with 31.2 million people at the 2011 Census, and its government is answerable to a unicameral 126-member Legislative Assembly at Dispur; it sends 14 members to the Lok Sabha and 7 to the Rajya Sabha. Its distinctive structural feature is that citizenship itself is administered differently here: the Assam Accord of 1985 and Section 6A of the Citizenship Act fix a 24 March 1971 cut-off unique to the state, and large parts of its hill and Bodo-majority territory are governed through Sixth Schedule autonomous councils rather than ordinary district administration.
- When was Assam established?
- Assam was established 26 January 1950.
- What does Assam do?
- Its remit covers State List subjects: law and order and the state police, land and revenue, agriculture, health, school education, local government and state public services, Administration of the Assam Accord and its Clause 6 commitments on safeguards for the Assamese people, Relations with three Sixth Schedule autonomous councils: the Bodoland Territorial Council, the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council and the Dima Hasao Autonomous Council, A tea- and hydrocarbon-based resource economy, with the associated state revenue and land-tenure questions, An international border with Bangladesh and Bhutan, and the internal frontier with the other Northeastern states.
- What is the latest on Assam?
- As of 2026-10-07: Uniform Civil Code, Assam receives the President's assent. The President assented to Assam's UCC on 29 September 2026, twelve days after assenting to Gujarat's, making Assam the third state with comprehensive UCC legislation after Uttarakhand and Gujarat. The code's substantive provisions take effect only from a date the state government notifies, with implementing rules still to be framed.
Official sources
The government's own pages for this institution — go straight to the primary.
-
Official portal run by the state IT Department and NIC; departments, dignitaries and eServices.
assam.gov.in/
- Assam Legislative Assembly legislation
The 126-member unicameral House; members, business and proceedings.
assamassembly.gov.in/
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Electoral rolls, polling stations, and the ECI final delimitation notification for Assam.
ceoassam.nic.in/
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Independent reading of state expenditure, GSDP, deficit and borrowing.
prsindia.org/budgets/states/assam-budget-analysis-2026-27
Implementation status and comparisons
What is documented — stage by stage, cell by cell — for instruments this state / ut is responsible for or covered by.
Related briefs
- Assam: a border, tea and hydrocarbon economy 2026-07-28
Related
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