As the BJP-led NDA surges to a two-thirds majority in Assam, the verdict is being read as a reaffirmation of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s political dominance. Yet, beneath the headline numbers lies a structural shift that may have decisively influenced the outcome — the 2023 delimitation exercise that redrew the state’s electoral map. The most visible casualty is the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), which has collapsed from 16 seats in 2021 to leads in just two constituencies. Its decline, analysts say, is not merely political but geographical. A broad consensus among political parties in Assam suggests that following delimitation, constituencies where minority voters play a decisive role have shrunk from around 35 to about 23 in the 126-member Assembly. This contraction has had a cascading effect: concentration of Muslim voters in fewer seats, while diluting their influence elsewhere. The transformation is stark in districts such as Hailakandi in the Barak Valley.…