JOIN USAssam’s Bodoland is all set to go to the polls on Wednesday to elect the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC).
The election assumes significance given that in the last three years the Bodoland region has seen spells of violence in which hundreds of people have been killed and lakhs displaced. Over 20 lakh voters of Bodoland, from all communities including the Bodos, will cast their franchise to elect the new Council on Wednesday. Voters though are hoping that the polls will be peaceful.
The BTC is an autonomous self-governing body created under the 6th schedule of the Indian Constitution (Amendment) Act 2003 following the Bodo accord signed that year. It consists of 46 members of whom 40 shall be elected on the basis of adult franchise.
The remaining 6 shall be nominated by the Governor having the same rights and privileges as other members, including voting rights, from among the unrepresented communities of BTAD (Bodoland Territorial Area District), of which at least two shall be women.
The first BTC polls were held in 2005, and ever since the contest has been restricted to the Bodo political parties. A total of 315 candidates are contesting across 40 constituencies. In the last Council polls in 2010 only 149 candidates were in the fray.
This time there are 9 women candidates in the fray.
Apart from the ruling Bodoland Peoples’ Front (BPF), which has been in power for two consecutive terms, the Congress and the BJP are also contesting all the 40 seats. Congress was an alliance partner with BPF from 2006 till last year when the alliance was snapped.
“For alliance compulsions we did not contest the BTC polls earlier, but this time around the people of Bodoland want Congress to rule the council as well,” said Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) President Anjan Dutta.
The BJP, which has been an emerging political force in Assam post the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, have ambitiously fielded candidates in all 40 seats.
In the last February urban civic polls in Assam, BJP created a record of sorts when it won 38 civic bodies out of 74, and the ruling Congress was reduced to winning in only 17. The Congress was in power in 67 of the 74 urban civic bodies and BJP till then has never won any urban civic polls in Assam.
“In 2014 Lok Sabha polls we won seven out of 14 seats in Assam, and then we won the urban civic polls and now we want to give the people of BTAD an alternative,” said Assam BJP President Siddartha Bhattacharyya.