GUWAHATI: As the dates for the much-awaited Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) elections were announced, and with the trusted allies Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) staring against each other in the Bodoland, the battle for ballot is getting much more intense.
The poll campaign for the BTR elections turned out to be a long drawn affair due to the COVID 19 pandemic as the much-awaited election dates were announced after a long delay.
The BTC polls are slated on December 7-8 for the first phase and December 10-11 for the second phase. While in the first phase two districts of Udalguri and Baksa will go for polls, the two remaining districts of Chirang and Udalguri will go for the poll in the second phase. The counting of votes will be on December 12.
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The health minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma said that BJP which has already decided to fight the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) polls alone will also fight against BPF in the ensuing state polls slated next year.
Sarma is now openly accusing his long time friend in politics in Bodoland, Hagrama Mohilary of `misrule’ and creating an atmosphere of fear in the region in last 15 years.
Though still in alliance in Dispur, BJP this time has been doing poll campaigns against its ally BPF in the BTC polls very aggressively. Though BPF claimed that the poll rivalry between the two allies was nothing but a political strategy, many suspected that BJP may ‘kick off’ BPF from its alliance in the state polls slated next year.
Meanwhile, Hagrama-led BPF which ruled Bodoland for three consecutive terms is countering BJP’s onslaught raising the pitch of local versus outsider fight.
So will the election at Bodoland open one more fault lines on ethnic or linguistic lines remains to be seen.
