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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 has 12 constituencies out of a total of 40 seats in the BTC. A total of 100 candidates contested elections in these 12 constituencies. Of these, 43 candidates contested from the Kokrajhar sub-division, 48 from the Gossaigaon sub-division, and one from Parbatjhora. A total of 316 candidates contested the elections this time, across five districts, Kokrajhar, Chirang, Udalguri, Baksa, and Tamulpur, under the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR). The polling for the BTC elections took place on September 22. Pramod Boro, the President of the United People's Party Liberal (UPPL), is the current Chief of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), where his party faces competition from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the ruling party in Assam. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has held several election campaign rallies in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) in the run-up to the elections. As the BJP released its manifesto, CM Sarma said, "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, the Mahila Udyamita Scheme, and girl students of BTR will get benefits under the Nijut Moina Scheme. BJP will work to provide constitutional safeguards and land rights to the people of BTR." Meanwhile, Pramod Boro has maintained that their regime 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. The Hagrama Mohilary-led Bodoland People's Party (BPF), Congress, and other regional parties also contested this election. 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 include 26.58 lakh voters. According to the Assam State Election Commission, there are 3279 polling stations across the 40 constituencies. (ANI)
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