Avik Chakraborty

Guwahati, May 4: The Kokrajhar Lok Sabha seat, which was reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) will witness a direct fight between United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF).

The Kokrajhar seat comprises of nine assembly segments viz. Gossaigaon, Dotma, Kokrajhar, Baokhungri, Parbatjhora, Sidli-Chirang, Bijni, Manas and Baksa.

Joyanta Basumatary of UPPL and Kampa Borgoyari of BPF are pitted against each other for the seat.

UPPL’s Joyanta Basumatary, former vice president of All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) is a sitting MLA from Sidli constituency. While BPF’s Kampa Borgoyari is a former deputy chief of BTC, who was also the in-charge of the forest department during the Hagrama Mohilary-led council government.

It needs to be mentioned here that the BPF had governed Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) for 17 years until 2020. However, in 2021 UPPL came to power for the first time and brought a change in Bodo political landscape.

In 2019 parliamentary elections, Independent candidate Naba Kumar Sarania won with a margin of 37,786 votes against BPF’s Pramila Rani Brahma. Sarania also won the seat in 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

But this time, incumbent MP Naba Kumar Sarania’s nomination was rejected by the returning officer citing Scheduled Tribe(ST) certificates as invalid.

Sarania had won the past two parliamentary elections by leveraging the polarization of non-Bodo voters in his favour. The western Assam constituency, falling under the Bodoland Territorial Region, has over 60 per cent non-Bodo voters.

“UPPL, which is an ally of NDA has an advantageous position because UPPL is in power at BTC. UPPL party workers have been working hard for their candidate. Kampa Borgoyari might find it difficult to garner support from voters as BPF has faced massive corruption charges and the region has remained underdeveloped,” said Ujjal Basumatary, a resident of Kokrajhar.

He added that the region once considered as paradise for insurgent activities, now wants development.

In 2019, Kokrajhar parliamentary constituency had a total 17,76,358 voters. However after the delimitation exercise, the number of valid voters have shrinked to nearly 15 lakh.

Kokrajhar will go to polls on May 7 as part of the third phase of elections in the state.

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