The Bodoland People’s Front (BPF)-led by Hagrama Mohilary swept the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) polls in Assam, winning 28 of the 40 seats on Saturday.
“The United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) and the BJP, alliance partners in the outgoing council, finished a distant second and third with seven and five seats respectively, down from their previous tally of 12 and nine. BPF is also part of NDA, and now all 40 seats of BTC are held by NDA constituents,” said Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
“Mohilary came to meet me at 4 am after he and his party won the BTC polls. He will remain with the NDA. There is absolutely no problem with the alliance, and we will continue to work together,” said Chief Minister. Mohilary won from Debargaon constituency, but lost the Chirangduar seat to his former comrade Khampa Borgoyary, who joined the UPPL. Outgoing BTC chief Pramod Boro won from Goimari, but lost in Dotma to BPF’s Prakash Basumatary.
Among other prominent winners are former Minister and BPF candidate Rihon Daimari from Bhairabkunda and former AGP minister Rekharani Das Boro, now in the BJP, from Baganpara constituency. The BPF had emerged as the single largest party in the 2020 polls with 17 seats, but the UPPL formed the council with the BJP and the Gana Suraksha Party (GSP).
Election to the 40-member council, comprising the five districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa, Udalguri and Tamulpur, was held on September 22. Over 78 per cent of the electorate of 26,58,153, comprising 13,23,536 males, 13,34,600 females and 17 people of other genders, had cast their votes in 3,359 polling stations. Among the 40 seats, 30 are reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates, five for non-STs and the remaining five are open to both ST and non-ST candidates.
In the 2020 council polls, the UPPL won 12 seats, BJP nine and GSP one, while the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), which had headed the council for the previous three terms, emerged as the single largest party with 17 seats. Congress secured one seat with its elected member joining the BJP later.
The BPF was then the BJP’s alliance partner in the State Government, but the ruling party decided to join hands with the UPPL and the GSP to jointly form the council. This is the second council polls after a fresh Bodo Accord was signed in New Delhi on January 27, 2020.
Sarma claimed that the election results would have been different had the “unfortunate death of Zubeen Garg not happened”. “We refrained from any election-related outreach during the last three days before the polls, and prioritised Zubeen’s death over the elections,” he said.
The BJP lost by very slim margins in some constituencies and would have won at least 10 to 11 seats, he said.