**Counting Begins for Fifth Bodoland Territorial Council Elections Amid Tight Security**
Kokrajhar: Counting of votes for the fifth general elections of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) began at 8 am on Friday amid tight security.
Kokrajhar district comprises 12 constituencies out of a total of 40 seats in the BTC. This time, a total of 100 candidates contested elections across these 12 constituencies. Among them, 43 candidates contested from the Kokrajhar sub-division, 48 from the Gossaigaon sub-division, and one from Parbatjhora.
Across the entire Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), a total of 316 candidates contested the elections. The polls spanned five districts: Kokrajhar, Chirang, Udalguri, Baksa, and Tamulpur. The polling for the BTC elections took place on September 22.
Pramod Boro, President of the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL), currently serves as the Chief of the Bodoland Territorial Council. In this election, his party faces competition from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the ruling party in Assam.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma conducted several election campaign rallies across the BTR in the run-up to the elections. Upon the release of the BJP manifesto, CM Sarma remarked, “This election will ensure a new journey in the Bodoland Territorial Region. BJP has released the Sankalp Patra for the BTC election. We will implement all schemes in the BTR region. Five lakh women of BTR will be included in the Assam Orunodoi Scheme and the Mahila Udyamita Scheme, and girl students will benefit under the Nijut Moina Scheme. BJP will work to provide constitutional safeguards and land rights to the people of BTR.”
Meanwhile, Pramod Boro emphasized that their administration has brought peace to the BTR after years of violence. In the previous BTC elections, the BJP and the UPPL had jointly formed the Bodoland Territorial Council government.
Other parties that contested this election include the Hagrama Mohilary-led Bodoland People’s Party (BPF), Congress, and various regional parties.
Out of the total 40 council constituencies, 30 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST), five for non-STs, and the remaining five are unreserved. The BTC constituencies cover approximately 26.58 lakh registered voters.
According to the Assam State Election Commission, there are 3,279 polling stations across these 40 constituencies.
*Note: Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ’s editorial team and has been auto-generated from an agency feed.*
https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/assam-counting-begins-for-bodoland-territorial-council-elections-amid-tight-security-across-five-districts