The 8th
Assam Legislative Assembly
The Assam Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Assam. It is housed in Guwahati, the capital city of Assam, geographically situated in present Western Assam region. The Legislative Assembly comprises 126 M ...
election was held in two phases in 1985 to elect members from 126 constituencies in
Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
.
The
Nellie massacre
The Nellie massacre took place in central Assam during a six-hour period in the morning of 18 February 1983. The massacre claimed the lives of 1,600–2,000 people from 14 villages—Alisingha, Khulapathar, Basundhari, Bugduba Beel, Bugduba ...
and
Khoirabari massacre
The Khoirabari massacre was an ethnic massacre of an estimated 100 to 500 immigrant Bengalis in the Khoirabari area of Assam, India, on 7 February 1983. Activists of the Assam Agitation sought to block an assembly election that day and h ...
were some cases of extreme violence. The unrest officially ended on 15 August 1985, following the
Assam Accord
The Assam Accord was a Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) signed between representatives of the Government of India and the leaders of the Assam Movement. It was signed in the presence of the then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in New Delhi on 15 Au ...
, which was signed by leaders of AASU-AAGSP and the
Government of India
The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...
. During this period of six long years of the historic movement as reported 855(later on 860 as submitted by AASU) nos of peoples sacrificed their lives in the hope of an "Infiltration Free Assam" in the 1979-1985 Assam agitation.
The agitation leaders formed a political party,
Asom Gana Parishad
Asom Gana Parishad (translation: ''Assam People's Council'', AGP) is a state political party in Assam, India. The AGP was formed after the historic Assam Accord of 1985 and formally launched at the Golaghat Convention held from 13–14 October ...
post-election and
Prafulla Kumar Mahanta
Prafulla Kumar Mahanta is an Indian Politician who was the leader of the Assam Movement, a former Chief Minister of Assam (two terms) and the former President of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), a major political party in the Indian state of Ass ...
became youngest
Chief Minister of Assam
The chief minister of Assam, an Indian state, is the head of the Government of Assam. As per the Constitution of India, the governor is the state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following el ...
.
Party positions
Winning candidates
By-elections
Government
Asom Gana Parishad
Asom Gana Parishad (translation: ''Assam People's Council'', AGP) is a state political party in Assam, India. The AGP was formed after the historic Assam Accord of 1985 and formally launched at the Golaghat Convention held from 13–14 October ...
was formed after the historic
Assam Accord
The Assam Accord was a Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) signed between representatives of the Government of India and the leaders of the Assam Movement. It was signed in the presence of the then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in New Delhi on 15 Au ...
of 1985 and formally launched at the
Golaghat Convention
The Golaghat Convention was a historic national convention of the people of Assam, organised in Golaghat for 2 days from 13–14 October 1985.
The 2 days' convention led to the formation of Assam's first major political party under the name and ...
held from 13–14 October 1985 in
Golaghat
Golaghat ( ''Gʊlaɡʱat'' ) one of the largest subdivisions of the Indian state of Assam, later elevated to the position of a full–fledged district headquarter on 5 October 1987, is a city and a municipality and the seat of administrat ...
,
Birth of AGP leads to Assam being divided into two irreconcilable camps
/ref> that let Prafulla Kumar Mahanta
Prafulla Kumar Mahanta is an Indian Politician who was the leader of the Assam Movement, a former Chief Minister of Assam (two terms) and the former President of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), a major political party in the Indian state of Ass ...
to be elected as the youngest chief minister of the state.
References
{{Assam elections
Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
State Assembly elections in Assam
1980s in Assam