Drawing a line under days of back-and-forth, the Congress and the Raijor Dal have locked in a seat-sharing formula for the Assam Assembly elections, with the Congress stepping aside in 11 constituencies and agreeing to a direct but “friendly” contest in two.The breakthrough came in Jorhat late on Thursday evening, where state Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi and Raijor Dal leader Akhil Gogoi signed the pact, firming up the Opposition’s joint play against the BJP.The Raijor Dal will field candidates in 13 seats; and Akhil will defend Sivasagar, a seat he had clinched in the last election while he was behind bars during the anti-CAA protests.Margherita, earlier marked for Prateek Bordoloi by the Congress, has now gone to the Raijor Dal after Bordoloi withdrew from the elections in the wake of his father’s move to the BJP earlier this week.The regional party’s slate further includes Dalgaon, Dhing, Sissiborgaon, Digboi, Bokakhat, Manas, Tezpur and Kaliabor. The Congress and the Raijor Dal will, however, face each other in Goalpara (East) and Gauripur in a “friendly contest”.Among Congress nominees, Gyanashree Bora has been fielded from Mariani.The agreement expands the Opposition combine to six parties — Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), CPM, All Party Hill Leaders Conference and CPI(ML). With this, the Opposition’s candidate announcements are largely in place. There are 126 Assembly constituencies in the state; and the Congress has announced candidates on 87 seats, AJP on 10, while CPM and APHLC have announced two candidates each.Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi said conceding seats was not an easy call, but was cleared by the party leadership keeping Assam’s larger political context in mind. He said the alliance was finalised after internal consultations and a review of ground inputs. He added that voices outside party structures also nudged the process forward.Calling for a coordinated campaign across parties, Gaurav said there was a visible push among voters to move away from the “intimidation-driven politics” under Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.Meanwhile, Raijor Dal leader Akhil Gogoi framed the alliance as a united bid to unseat the BJP government and put forward Gaurav Gogoi as the chief ministerial face. He said public sentiment was shifting and required a consolidated Opposition response.Pitching Jorhat as a decisive battleground, he said voters there could influence who leads the state next. He said that Raijor Dal had restricted itself to 13 seats to keep the alliance intact and expressed regret to party workers who missed out on nominations.