GUWAHATI: The Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) has swept the elections to Assam’s Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), ousting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) from power.
The BPF bagged 28 of the autonomous council’s 40 seats, while the BJP and the UPPL secured five and seven seats respectively.
BPF chief Hagrama Mohilary and UPPL president and BTC Chief Executive Member Pramod Boro were among the winning candidates. Both contested from two constituencies but won from one each.
The BTC administers the five districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa, Tamulpur and Udalguri, which fall under the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR). The BPF performed well across the region.
The BPF was in power in the BTC for 15 years until being ousted in 2020. It had emerged as the single largest party even in the last election, winning 17 seats but failing to cobble together the numbers to stay in power. The BJP and the UPPL, which had bagged nine and 12 seats respectively, formed the government along with the regional Gana Suraksha Party that won one seat.
This year’s result came as a surprise to both the BJP and the UPPL. Insiders in both parties admitted they had failed to read the strong undercurrent against them.
Few had counted on the BPF, even as the BJP and the UPPL were focused on outperforming each other.
Despite being in power with the UPPL in the BTC, the BJP had not forged a pre-poll alliance with the Pramod Boro-led party, a move that was seen as one of political convenience.
The BJP had anticipated the polls would throw up a hung House. Had that been the case, it would have aligned either with the UPPL or the BPF to form the government. However, the BPF put to rest this probability by securing a majority on its own.
With Assembly elections in the state due early next year, the BJP may extend outside support to the BPF to keep it in good humour. The BPF may not mind as the BJP is in power in the state as well as at the Centre, and development funds matter.
The BTC gets Rs 800 crore annually from the Centre via the state government. This is meagre considering that the BTR has a population of more than 31 lakh.
The BJP had gone to the polls all guns blazing, hoping to emerge as the single largest party. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had led an aggressive campaign across the BTR.
The UPPL allegedly considered the BJP its biggest challenge. The UPPL’s fear was that if the BJP won a good number of seats, it would call the shots during the formation of the government or even might align with the BPF.
All this while, the BPF went ahead with its public outreach in a region where the non-Bodos account for around 65 per cent of the total voters. The Muslims, who hold sway in eight to ten constituencies feel more comfortable working with the BPF than the UPPL.
According to observers, the BJP-UPPL government’s various projects failed to touch the ordinary people although these promised long-term benefits in the future.
With Assembly elections drawing near, the BJP has every reason to be worried. CM Sarma has not said anything on the results so far.
Talking to the media two days ago, he had mentioned that the BJP’s poll campaign was affected during the “crucial” last 72 hours when he and Assam BJP president Dilip Saikia had to cancel their election rallies in view of music legend Zubeen Garg’s untimely demise in Singapore. However, he had confidently stated that the BJP would get more than its 2020 tally of nine seats this election.