Young, Bold, First-Timers: Meet these 7 Under-40 candidates in Assam Assembly polls 2026

Assam's 2026 Assembly elections are shaping up to be unlike any before. With 6.28 lakh first-time voters in the 18–19 age group casting their ballots for the first time, and 126 constituencies going to the polls in a single historic phase on April 9, parties across the spectrum — from the BJP to Raijor Dal, from the Congress to the AJP — are hedging their bets on a new crop of young, credentialed, and often non-dynastic candidates.

Here's a close look at some of the most intriguing young names on the ballot.

Kunki Choudhury, 26 — Guwahati Central (Asom Jatiya Parishad)

If there's a candidate who most literally embodies the phrase "bringing fresh perspective to politics," it may well be Kunki Choudhury — 26 years old, recently back from London, and now standing for the Asom Jatiya Parishad (AJP) from Guwahati Central.

Kunki completed her undergraduate BBA from the prestigious Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics before heading to University College London, where she earned a Master's in Educational Leadership in 2025. She returned to Assam not with a corporate offer letter, but a candidate's nomination form.

Her motivation, she says, is straightforward: to apply what she learned abroad to the ground realities at home. Her focus areas — skill development, women's empowerment, and safety — are informed by her academic background and years of involvement with her family's non-profit educational organisation, which works for underprivileged communities. She has participated in field projects around the Garbhanga Reserve Forest and a village model project in Rani Sapori, and engaged with communities through Girijananda Chowdhury University's outreach networks.

What makes Kunki's candidacy particularly striking is its timing. She graduated from UCL in 2025. Within months, she was filing her nomination. For a generation often accused of political apathy, it's a striking counter-narrative.

Gyanashree Bora, 34 — Mariani (Raijor Dal)

Dr Gyanashree Bora has a doctorate in Chemistry and, until February 2, 2026, was an Assistant Professor at Goalpara College—joined June 1, 2023—earning what she called "the highest salary in the Assam government," often exceeding MLAs or even the Chief Minister. On February 5, she "walked away from her lab and her lecture hall," resigning despite family pleas to honour her PhD, and formally rejoined Raijor Dal—the party led by Akhil Gogoi, the RTI activist-turned-MLA imprisoned during anti-CAA protests.

Gyanashree is not new to either politics or sacrifice. A prominent face of the 2019–20 anti-CAA protests that swept Assam, turning Guwahati streets into civil resistance theatres, she served as Raijor Dal spokesperson and women's wing president—roles demanding courage amid arrests and charges. Public queries like "'Why did you quit politics?'... 'one generation disappointed'" pulled her back, as she wrote: "I want to dedicate this life... to the society... speak up for society's problems," rejecting government jobs where "the rights of voice are lost."

Now she's filed her nomination from Mariani—challenging BJP's Rupjyoti Kurmi—and is campaigning fiercely. She represents something rare: a scientist-activist reading policies like research papers, choosing conscience over security, decrying politics as a "'chang pata in the sky' dream" for middle-class youth without privilege, while vowing fights against unemployment, healthcare shortages, dowry, drugs, and women's low representation: "Why... participation of women in... Assam Legislative Assembly so pathetic?"

Rupali Langthasa, 36 — Haflong (BJP)

Haflong, nestled in the stunning Dima Hasao district—Assam's only hill station—has long been a region of distinct tribal identity and political complexity. It is here that the BJP has placed 36-year-old Rupali Langthasa, a Banaras Hindu University (BHU) graduate and Member of the Dima Hasao Autonomous Council (DHAC) from the Diyungbra constituency, replacing Sports Minister Nandita Gorlosa in a bold generational bet amid reports of local BJP factionalism.

Langthasa is no greenhorn. She joined the BJP in 2015, rose to Dima Hasao BJP General Secretary by 2021, and, as a 2024-elected MAC, held the in-charge portfolio for Higher Education—a role that put her at the intersection of tribal governance and educational development in one of Assam's most culturally layered regions. Her surname, Langthasa, is associated with the Dimasa community, one of the oldest indigenous groups of Northeast India, with roots stretching back to the ancient Dimasa kingdom.

She has been part of district-level ceremonies, inaugurations of educational institutions, and high-level governance proceedings—a practitioner of tribal self-governance under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, which grants hill councils like DHAC a degree of legislative and executive autonomy.

When the BJP ticket arrived, she spoke with measured confidence: "Good work is being done in every field. I will follow in the footsteps of our leadership and actively shoulder whatever responsibility is given to me." It's the language of someone accustomed to institutional responsibility—and ready for more, as endorsed by DHAC Chief Debolal Gorlosa for her dedication to party and council work.

Pabitra Rabha — Goalpara West (ST) (BJP)

Pabitra Rabha's political biography reads like a case study in grassroots organisational politics. He began as District Convenor of ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad) in Goalpara in 2016–17, worked his way up to District Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), then to District President, and is now the State General Secretary of BJYM Assam Pradesh.

His political training is entirely from within the organisation...no family name, no shortcut. Goalpara West is a Scheduled Tribe reserved constituency, and Rabha, a member of the Rabha community (a significant indigenous group of western Assam), brings both organisational muscle and community credibility to the seat.

In his Facebook post celebrating the BJP ticket, he declared: "We are determined to always work as a soldier in the construction of Assam developed with steadfast faith, determination," thanking PM Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, JP Nadda, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, and state president Dilip Saikia, while pledging, "West Goalpara is our home, residents are our family. We will always be committed to ensuring this family's prosperity, progress and bright future."

In a political era often dominated by turncoats and ticket-buyers, Pabitra Rabha's career arc—and his vow of "Victory to Mother India! Hail mother Assam!"—is a reminder that some still climb the rungs one at a time.

Zubair Anam Mazumder, 34 — Algapur-Katlichera (Indian National Congress)

Zubair Anam Mazumder was born in Algapur, schooled in Guwahati, and holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Guwahati College of Architecture. On paper, he could have been designing buildings. Instead, he's been building political organisations.

He began with the NSUI (National Students' Union of India) — Congress's student wing — and steadily rose through the ranks of the Assam Pradesh Youth Congress (APYC), serving as State General Secretary and Vice President before winning the presidency in April 2023 with an impressive 62,000 votes, defeating rivals Paritosh Roy and David Phukan.

Now Congress has fielded him from Algapur-Katlichera (Constituency No. 122) in Hailakandi district, Barak Valley — a brand-new constituency formed after delimitation by merging the former Algapur and Katlicherra seats. The seat has a complex history of AIUDF and Congress competition, and Anam will need every ounce of his organisational experience to navigate it.

He is no stranger to controversy either. In February 2025, he was detained ahead of an anti-government protest. In January 2026, he publicly accused a sitting Congress MLA of claiming he had been "bought" for crores during internal ticket disputes — a moment that underscored both his combativeness and the party's own internal fault lines in minority-heavy constituencies.

His social media presence (@zubairnsui, @Zubairanam) reflects a politician fluent in the digital idiom — as much at home in a Twitter thread as a campaign rally.

Rahul Chetry, 31 — Margherita (Raijor Dal)

There is something almost cinematic about Rahul Chetry's campaign in Margherita, a constituency in Tinsukia district that has long been BJP territory. He is the son of a tea grower—not a dynasty, not a minister's heir—who served as General Secretary of the Dibrugarh University Students' Union and cut his political teeth in the anti-CAA protests of 2020, when he was barely 24 years old. His past includes a 2022 controversy as the prime accused in a Dibrugarh University ragging case—linked to a student's suicide attempt—leading to his expulsion from JB Law College and an arrest, though in 2026, speaking to India Today NE, he denied all allegations, stating no evidence was found against him.

Now 31, he is Raijor Dal's candidate against BJP's sitting MLA Bhaskar Sharma—the Congress candidate Prateek Bordoloi having since withdrawn from the contest. On Facebook, thanking Akhil Gogoi, he posted: "Believed in leadership, is, was and will be. Thank you Mr. Akhil Gogoi, trusting the son of a farmer for giving tickets to the historic Margherita constituency. I will fight, we will win." He has framed the contest as "soil and people" against "money and power"—a populist idiom that resonates in tea garden country, where unemployment, poor roads, drug abuse, healthcare gaps, and education failures are daily realities, not campaign talking points.

His momentum got a boost on March 18, 2026, when over 300 Congress and AGP workers defected to Raijor Dal—a remarkable ground-level shift just weeks before polling. Whether it translates into votes remains to be seen, but as a symbol of organic, anti-establishment candidacy, Rahul Chetry is compelling.

Devid T Phukan — Tinsukia (Indian National Congress)

Devid Phukan followed a common educational path in Assam: a BBM degree from Darwin School of Business, higher secondary at Tinsukia College, and high school at Saumar Jyoti Vidyalaya in Tinsukia. From a regular family with no political ties, his background reflects the region's middle-class focus on business and commerce training.

In his early 30s, he is Congress's candidate from Tinsukia constituency, taking on the BJP in a competitive race. Drawing from local student activism, including 2020 anti-CAA involvement, his platform targets infrastructure deficits, job scarcity for graduates, and underfunded colleges in Tinsukia’s industrial and tea areas.

Like other young non-dynastic contenders in Assam's 2026 elections, he enters a field shaped by organisational experience rather than family legacy.

The Bigger Picture

What unites these seven candidates, separated by party, community, region, and biography, is a generational restlessness that conventional political wisdom is only beginning to take seriously.

They are the children of Assam's post-liberalisation middle class, its tribal governance structures, its anti-CAA agitation, its student unions, and its educational institutions. They hold degrees from Goalpara College and University College London. They've stood on protest lines and in council chambers. They know how to use social media and how to knock on doors in remote constituencies.

Whether this youth wave produces electoral victories or becomes another chapter of valiant near-misses is something only the ballot boxes, counting begins May 4, will tell. But the fact that these names are on the ballot at all is itself a shift worth watching.