Voting underway for second phase of BTC elections

The second phase of voting for the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) elections is underway in Kokrajhar and Chirang districts of Assam with heavy security arrangements and COVID-19 protocols in place.

The second phase of voting for the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) elections is underway in Kokrajhar and Chirang districts of Assam with heavy security arrangements and COVID-19 protocols in place.

There are total 19 constituencies, Kokrajhar and Chirang have 12 and 7 seats respectively.

In the second phase of polling, 10,23,404 voters will decide the future of 111 candidates by exercising their franchise across 1,407 polling stations in Kokrajhar and Chirang districts.

In Kokrajhar, over 6.5 lakh voters will decide the fate of 77 candidates that are in the fray in 12 seats. In Chirang district, 34 candidates are contesting in the 7 seats where the electorate strength is over 3.68 lakh.

Long queues have been seen in many places as voters started to reach the polling booths to exercise their franchise since morning. Assam tourism minister Chandan Brahma was seen casting his vote at a polling booth in Chirang district.

So far, no untoward incident has been reported in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR).

The much-awaited voting for the BTC began on Monday with over 77.01 per cent voters exercising their franchise in the first phase of polling for 21 seats in Udalguri and Baksa districts, where 130 candidates have contested.

The counting for both phases will be held on December 12.

Out of the total 3,164 polling booths, the authorities have marked 606 as very sensitive and 1,266 as sensitive, and arranged tight security measures in those, an ASEC official said.

The BJP and BPF are contesting separately and both the parties were engaged in bitter campaigns with the usage of many unparliamentary words by the leaders of the two parties.

The BJP is running its first state government in Assam in alliance with the BPF and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP).

The BJP, which does not have a majority, is the single largest party with 60 MLAs in the 126-member assembly, while the BPF and the AGP have 14 and 12 lawmakers respectively.
The UPPL is another strong outfit apart from the BPF and the BJP in the elections.

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