Kokrajhar: United People's Party Liberal (UPPL) president Pramod Boro took oath as the new chief executive member (CEM) of Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) in a swearing-in ceremony held at Kokrajhar district of Assam on Tuesday afternoon.
The swearing-in ceremony was held at Bodofa Nagar in Kokrajhar.
Boro took oath in the presence of Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) convenor and state finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, and other senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies UPPL and Gana Suraksha Party (GSP), besides dignitaries and the general public. He was administered the oath of office by state chief secretary Jishnu Barua.
In his address to the gathering after taking his oath in Bodo language, the new BTC chief said that he will work towards uniting society. "We will have to work together to bring change in society. In the next five years, we will have to ensure that no one remains unhappy in the region,," he said.
Earlier in the morning, Boro paid homage to Bodofa Upendra Nath Brahma, the former president of All Bodo Students' Union, before taking oath as the new chief.
Along with Boro, three executive members (EMs) -- Gautam Das (BJP, Mathanguri constituency), Ghanshyam Das (Independent, Dihira constituency) and Diganta Borua (BJP, Mwdwibari constituency) -- took oath in the swearing-in ceremony. Meanwhile, UPPL vice-president Gobinda Ch Basumatary was sworn in as the new deputy chief executive member of BTC.
Boro will head the coalition government comprising UPPL, BJP, and GSP.
On Sunday (December 13), Boro and GSP chief Naba Sarania met minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP national general secretary Dilip Saikia, Assam BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass and discussed government formation modalities. Later, Boro was chosen as leader of the coalition in the meeting of the newly elected members of BJP, UPPL, and GSP.
The incumbent Bodoland People's Front (BPF) won 17 seats to emerge as the single largest party while UPPL bagged 12 seats, BJP got nine seats and GSP managed to win only one seat in the BTC polls held in two phases. While the first phase for 21 seats was held on December 7 in Baksa and Udalguri districts, the second phase was held in Chirang and Kokrajhar districts on December 10 for a total of 19 constituencies. The second phase polls witnessed 78.8% voters' turnout which is marginally higher than the first phase figure of 77%.
The counting of votes took place on December 12 in 10 subdivisional headquarters of the four districts – Kokrajhar, Gossaigaon, Chirang, Bijni, Tamulpur, Parbatjhora, Bhergaon, Mushalpur, and Udalguri, Salbari -- to decide the fate of 241 candidates who contested the polls.