2016 Assam Assembly Elections - Assamese are minority, Muslims are largest electoral group in this poll battle

Demography in Assam is a cause of concern for all those firmly believing in the mantra of Jai Aai Ahom. 

The ethnic Assamese population is far less compared to the number of migrants (including Bangladeshi immigrants) residing in the state.

As per the electoral roll published in January 2016, the indigenous population is now a minority, and the ‘settlers’ are the ones in majority

Out of the 32 million strong population, only 10 million people are ethnic Assamese, whereas, the remaining 22 million of the population are ‘outsiders’

Ethnic Assamese population

Ahom	2 million
Bodo	1.4 million
Christians	1.4 million
Mishing	0.6 million
Others	1.6 million

Here is the segment-wise breakdown of migrant population:

Muslims	11 million
Bengali Hindus	6 million
Tea plantation workers	5 million

The list of these migrants include – Muslims, Bengali Hindus, Bangladeshis and tea plantation workers mostly hailing from Jharkhand.

The Muslims are the largest single community residing in the region, with a population of 34 %

 None of them have ethnic ties with Assam.

Out of the 22 million migrants, 11 million are Muslims, who have been accorded voting rights.

The votes of migrant population would play a key role in the second phase of voting, since they mostly reside in the region of Lower Assam which is going to polls on Monday April 11,2016