Staff Reporter
Guwahati: The showdown in the Kokrajhar Parliamentary Constituency is something that is set to decide as to whose writ will run in the BTR, of Promod Boro or of Hagrama Mohilary? Which way the vote bank of two-time MP Naba Sarania will tilt is one of the deciding factors for the fate of UPPL candidate Joyanta Basumatary and BPF candidate Kampa Borgoyary. Apart from these, the votes of the minority and the non-Bodos will also have a role to play.
In the past two consecutive Lok Sabha elections, independent candidate Naba Sarania garnered around five lakh votes from this constituency with the backing of the O-Bodo Suraksha Samiti and the minorities. With Naba Sarania not present in the battlefield for a legal hurdle this time, the O-Bodo Suraksha Samiti has opted not to take sides. It has appealed to its supporters to cast their conscience vote in the constituency. To garner these five lakh votes from non-Bodos and minorities, both UPPL chief Promod Boro and his BPF counterpart Hagrama Mohilary have been on the battleground with their full forces.
The Kokrajhar Lok Sabha constituency has 14.94 lakh voters in as many as 1862 polling stations spread across nine Assembly segments: Gossaigaon, Dotoma, Kokrajhar, Baokhungri, Parbhotjhara, Sidli-Chirang, Bijni, Manas, and Baksa.
From 1957 to 1971, the Congress had this parliamentary constituency under its good grip; from 1977 to 1996, it was under independent candidates; from 1996 to 2009, the BPF was on the scene; and for the last two terms since 2014, it was under independent candidate Naba Sarania. In the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, Naba Sarania polled 4.84 lakh votes, the BPF candidate got 4.46 lakh, and the UPPL candidate got 3.12 lakh votes.
However, the UPPL is an NDA alliance partner now. Right from the Chief Minister, all ministers and MLAs have thrown their full weight behind the UPPL candidate, Joyanta Basumatary. A positive wave in the UPPL shows that it is at the helm of the BTC. And unlike the BPF regime, the BTR has been violence-free for the past three years since the UPPL took charge of the BTC.
Hagrama Mohilary, with the help of his three party MLAs, is trying his best to show that the BTR had more development when the BPF was at the helm of the BTC. Apart from this, Hagrama also has a grip on minority voters. However, of late, the BJP has also made inroads into the traditional minority vote banks in the state. The situation in this parliamentary constituency is heading for a straight fight between the UPPL and the BPF.
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