BTC Elections: Second phase of voting underway; 12% voter turnout in first two hours

Guwahati: The second phase of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) elections started on Thursday morning. The second phase of voting for BTC began at 7.30 am in Kokrajhar and Chirang district. A 12% voter turnout was recorded in the first two hours of polling for the final phase.

Tight security arrangements have been made at all 1,407 polling booths to ensure safe polling. The temperature of the voters was checked and their hands were sanitised before they were allowed to enter the voting centres.

A total of 111 candidates are in the fray for the second phase of BTC election and over 10.23 lakh voters will decide their fate with the ballot papers.

Former BTC Chief Hagrama Mohilary, former deputy chief Khampa Borgoyary are among the candidates contesting the second phase of the election.

Nearly 77% voter turnout was recorded in the first phase of BTC election which was held in the 21 council constituencies in Baksa and Udalguri district on December 7.

The prime contenders of the BTC elections are the ruling Bodoland's People Front (BPF) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). BPF's Chief Hangrama Mohilary has been ruling the council since its inception in 2003. BPF is contesting for 37 seats, while BJP is contesting for 26 seats. BJP is also supporting independent candidates.

After the pandemic hit the state, this is the first time that the state will have an election. The voting was earlier scheduled to be in April, however, it was cancelled due to the pandemic. BTC was under the Governor's rule since April.

Ahead of the second phase of BTC election, Pramod Boro, president of the United People's Party Liberal (UPPL) was attacked by unidentified miscreants on December 9 at Noygaon near Kokrajhar.

Five vehicles of the convoy, including Boro's bulletproof car were damaged.

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