Gossaigaon: After BTC election, situation turned violent in Gossaigaon, Kokrajhar district of Assam after an incident of violence took place on Thursday (December 10) night as polling for the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) end. A vehicle carrying ballot boxes along with polling officials were attacked by a group of people at Habrubil on NH-31C. They threw stones over them and damaged the ballot boxes along with the vehicle.
The incident took place at Padmabil area in Gossaigaon
around 9 PM while the vehicle was carrying ballot boxes and the polling
officials from the No. 11 polling booth of the Kachugaon constituency to the
office of the Sub-Divisional Officer, Habrubil.
After the Gossaigaon police reached the spot, they had
to fire 25-30 rounds in the air to calm the situation and disperse the huge
crowd.
Some miscreants also tried to attack the strong room
set up at the Sub-Divisional Officer's office while police arrested a few
people.
The Assam State Election Commission might consider
re-polling in that particular booth.
Whereas final phase of polling, also witnessed security
personnel to open fire to disperse the agitated crowd and control a clash
between BPF and UPPL supporters at Duttapur in Chirang district while voting
was underway. This happened after Promod Boro, President of United People's
Party (Liberal) (UPPL) was attacked by
miscreants at Naigaon area of Kokrajhar on December 9. UPPL has filed an FIR
regarding the attack on Boro.
However, no injury was reported. Further information
are awaited.
The final phase of Bodoland Territorial Council polls
for 19 seats recorded a polling percentage of 78.8% which is marginally higher
than the first phase figure of 77%.
The voting for the Bodoland Territorial Council began
on December 7 for 21 seats in the Udalguri and Baksa districts and polling for
the 19 seats were held on December 10 in Kokrajhar and Chirang districts.
The counting of votes is scheduled for December 12,
2020.
The prime contenders of the BTC elections are the BPF
and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). BPF has been ruling the council since its
inception in 2003.
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