Guwahati, Mar 5: The Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) has emerged as one of Assam’s most crucial electoral battlegrounds ahead of the Assembly elections, although seat-sharing among BJP allies — the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) and the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) — is yet to be finalised.

With only a few days left for the Assam Assembly polls, the seat-sharing arrangement among the allied parties has still not been clearly announced.

Currently, all 11 Assembly seats in the BTR’s five districts are held by the BJP and its two Bodo allies — the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) and the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL). The BTR emerged as one of the strongest bastions of the NDA in the last Assembly elections, and the BJP is keen not to take any risks in the region.

The BPF, which ruled the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) since 2005, had earlier been an ally of the Congress when the latter was in power in Assam. The regional party shifted its allegiance to the BJP in 2016, when the saffron party first formed the government in the state.

However, the BPF aligned with the Congress for the 2021 Assam Assembly elections, while the UPPL allied with the BJP. The NDA eventually retained power in the state. The BJP and UPPL also forged a successful alliance for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

“Now the BJP’s focus is on Hagrama Mohilary, chief of the BPF. In the last elections, the BPF had allied with the Congress, while the BJP-UPPL combine managed to win most of the seats. This time, the BJP is being very cautious and does not want to take any risks in the BTR region. They are planning an alliance with both the BPF and the UPPL. Pramod Boro’s UPPL is already in alliance with the BJP, and the party wants to win most of the seats in BTR in the upcoming Assembly polls,” said political analyst Jyotirmoy Hazarika.

Following the 2023 delimitation exercise in Assam, the number of Assembly seats in the five BTR districts — Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa, Tamulpur and Udalguri — has increased from 11 to 15. This accounts for nearly 12 per cent of the 126-member state Assembly, significantly raising the region’s political stakes.

Political analysts believe the situation changed last September when the BPF swept the BTC elections, defeating the UPPL-BJP combine.

The BPF won 28 of the 40 seats in the council, while the UPPL and BJP secured just 7 and 5 seats, respectively. Soon after, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma joined hands with the BPF. Sarma inducted BPF leader Charan Boro into his cabinet, which already included UPPL leader Urkhao Gwra Brahma as a minister.

Meanwhile, BPF chief and Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) head Hagrama Mohilary dismissed speculation about the circulation of the party’s “final” seat-sharing numbers within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), stating that no decision has been taken yet.

Mohilary said discussions among NDA partners were still ongoing.

“There are multiple parties in the NDA alliance — the BJP, AGP, UPPL and others. The number of seats for each party has not been finalised yet,” he said.

“The BTR region is very crucial for the BJP, and the party is trying to stitch an alliance with the BPF by any means, as it does not want to take any risks. Seat-sharing has not been finalised yet, but discussions are moving in the right direction,” party sources said.

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