The Congress had won 53 seats when results for 125 of the total 126 assembly seats were declared. Counting for the Dispur constituency, the capital of Assam, was stopped due to problems in electronic voting machines. The Congress candidate is leading by around 800 votes.

The Hagrama Mohilary faction of the Bodo People's Progressive Front (BPPF-H), an ally of the Congress, won 11 seats.

The two can now form the government on their own as their combined strength is 64.

Though the strength of the assembly is 126, the figure required to form the government came down to 63 instead of 64 with Badruddin Ajmal, president of the newly formed Asom United Democratic Front (AUDF), winning two seats.

Congress' main challenger, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) won 24 seats, and its ally the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) won two seats. The CPI, another AGP ally, won one seat.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and AUDF won ten seats each.

"We thank the people of Assam for allowing us to rule the state for another term," Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told IANS.

"This is true we have created history as no party had won the elections in succession since 1978 in Assam. This is a positive vote for peace and development that our government ushered in during the last five-years."

The poor performance of the AGP in Assam has dealt a blow to a grand plan for rejuvenating the third front mooted by the Samajawadi Party and the Telegu Desam Party.

The Congress had won 71 seats in the 2001 assembly polls.

"You cannot expect the margin of victory to remain the same during the second term but we have already emerged as the single largest party. With support from our ally and others we are forming the government," the chief minister said.

The AGP was virtually rejected for a second successive term - it managed to marginally improve on its 2001 tally by just four seats - the AGP won 20 seats in 2001.

Accepting defeat, senior AGP leader Apurba Kumar Bhattacharrya said: "We think the Assamese people did not vote for us and we need to introspect on the reasons. We, however, respect the verdict of the people," he added.

The failure of the party to better its performance is partly attributed to a split in the regional party with its founder Prafulla Kumar Mahanta forming a splinter faction after being expelled last year.