Ajanta Neog

Ajanta Neog (born 1964) is an Indian politician who served as the Minister of Finance and Women and Child Development in the Government of Assam from 2021 to 2026. She is the first woman Finance Minister of Assam. She has been representing the Golaghat Assembly seat consecutively for the past five terms since 2001. She also holds the record for being the longest-serving female legislator of Assam.

Currently, she is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party which she joined in December 2020.

Early life and education Ajanta Neog was born in Guwahati to late Sasadhar Das and late Rebati Das. Her mother Rebati Das, was a former Member of the Assam Legislative Assembly representing Jalukbari constituency. She completed MA, LLB and LLM from Gauhati University and is an alumna of Handique Girls College. After completing her education, she practised law as an advocate at Gauhati High Court for a few years.

Indian National Congress She was first elected to the Assembly in 2001 after defeating her nearest rival by over 10000 votes. She was again victorious in the subsequent election held in 2006. In the 2011 assembly elections she won by a huge margin of 46171 votes. Consecutively, she won the 2016 assembly elections despite a 'BJP Wave' in upper Assam where a vast majority of the Congress candidates were defeated. She held the position of Minister for Public Works Department (Roads and Building, National Highways), Urban Development and Housing, and had been in the last three Cabinets. She was also given the additional charge of Minister for Planning and Development, Judicial, Legislative, Pension & Public Grievance in 2015. She was conferred with the Golaghat Ratna award by the United Chamber of Commerce, Golaghat.

During her tenure as the PWD minister, Assam achieved huge success in infrastructure development. Assam was adjudged the "Best Infrastructure Development State" in the big state category in the 13th States Conclave by the India Today Group held on 6 November 2015. Assam was adjudged the best State in Infrastructure Development because it had registered a 17 per cent increase in the length of paved road from 2011 to 2013–14, whereas the national average for the same period was four per cent.

Bharatiya Janata Party In December 2020, Ajanta Neog along with Rajdeep Goala (both incumbent legislators) joined the Bharatiya Janata Party after being expelled from Indian National Congress for their alleged "anti-party" activities. She called her former party ‘vision less’ and disconnected from people while speaking to reporters. She also said that she is joining the BJP to protect the interest of the indigenous people of Assam from the ‘unholy’ alliance of the Congress Party and AIUDF.

She subsequently won the 2021 Assembly election from the Golaghat constituency on a BJP ticket defeating her nearest rival from the Congress party. With this victory, she became an MLA for the 5th consecutive term from Golaghat constituency. She was inducted into the Himanta Biswa Sarma cabinet as the Finance Minister creating history by being the first woman to hold the finance portfolio in the state.

In the 2026 Assam Assembly elections, Ajanta Neog won in the Golaghat Assembly Constituency (No. 103), reaffirming the growing dominance of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Upper Assam. With a tally of 1,02,212 votes, Neog defeated Bitupan Saikia of the Indian National Congress by a margin of 43,759 votes. She lost her finance portfolio to Jayanta Malla Baruah in the Second Sarma ministry.

Electoral history

Year Constituency Party Votes %Opponent Result Margin 2001 Golaghat 52,134 55.1% Atul Bora 2006 66,072 53.2% 2011 79,648 64.9% Amiyo Kumar Borah 2016 73,862 50.8% Bitupan Saikia 2021 81,651 51.3% 2026 1,02,212 50.75%

Personal life Ajanta Neog was married to Karmashree Nagen Neog who was killed along with eight others by the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam in 1996. Her husband was a former minister and belonged to the Chutia ethnic group. She has two sons.