Guwahati : The Congress has prepared an initial list of 45 candidates for the upcoming Assam Assembly elections, retaining most of its sitting MLAs, but is likely to delay the formal announcement until the BJP unveils its own lineup.

Party insiders said the names were cleared during a virtual meeting of the Central Election Committee (CEC) on Friday, where recommendations from the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee and the screening committee were reviewed. The leadership is understood to be holding back the public release of the list as a strategic move, allowing room for recalibration once the BJP declares its candidates.

The CEC session also deliberated on ticket allocation for the newly created Binnakandi and Khowang constituencies. While there was discussion about offering these seats to alliance partners, the proposal reportedly met resistance from some sections within the state unit.

The potential candidacies of the sons of Nagaon MP Pradyut Bordoloi and Dhubri MP Rakibul Hussain were also taken up during deliberations, reflecting the party’s attempt to balance continuity with generational transition.

The Congress is expected to contest around 100 of Assam’s 126 Assembly seats, though negotiations with alliance partners are still underway. Seat-sharing talks have triggered protests within sections of the state unit.

Party workers have opposed reported plans to leave Sarupathar and Bhawanipur-Sorbhog seats for the Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and the CPM. In Golaghat, Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi reportedly faced protests from local workers unhappy over the proposal to vacate Sarupathar for an ally.

Leaders indicated that negotiations remain fluid and adjustments may be made before finalising the broader alliance framework.

The developments follow a recent two-day visit to Assam by senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who chaired the first screening committee meeting for the state on February 23. During her visit, she interacted extensively with block- and district-level leaders and sought feedback on prospective candidates.

The screening panel included senior leaders such as Jitendra Singh, Manoj Chauhan, Prithviraj Sathe, Vikas Upadhyay, Gaurav Gogoi, and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Debabrata Saikia.

Sources said the exercise focused on assessing local winnability, factional balance and alliance considerations before forwarding recommendations to the CEC.

Assam’s 126 Assembly constituencies are expected to go to the polls in April, setting the stage for a closely watched contest. With both major parties calibrating their candidate lists and alliance arithmetic, the coming days are likely to see heightened political manoeuvring across the state.

For now, the Congress appears intent on keeping its options open, awaiting the BJP’s candidate announcement before making its first list public.