BREAKING: BTC Chief Promod Boro proves his majority in Composite Floor Test

KOKRAJHAR: Ending all speculations, Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) Chief Promod Bodo today proved that he has the majority's support at the Secretariat in Kokrajhar, Assam, earlier today in a Composite Floor Test. This basically means that Boro, who is the President of the United People's Liberal (UPPL), will hold onto the Chief Post, despite the stiff challenge posed to him by his predecessor Hagrama Mohilary, who approached the High Court.

The Bodoland People's Front (BPF) MCLAs, led from the forefront by former Chief by Hagrama Mohilary raised a hue-and-cry at the Secretariat, but that was not enough to prevent the UPPL-GSP-BJP combine from walking away with the last laugh. As many as 22 newly-elected MCLAs voted in favour of the coalition.

The Gauhati High Court on Tuesday ordered composite floor tests of the newly-elected Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) by December 26. The floor test got underway at 10 am in morning today.

After winning the test, Pramod Boro stated that his government will dedicate itself to the upliftment of the peoples. "Coalition government is for all citizens in the council. We are committed to working for the unity and integrity," Boro said.

The order was passed while the court heard a petition by Bodoland People's Front (BPF) chief Hagrama Mohilary, after the BJP dumped his party to form a post-poll coalition with the United People's Party Liberal (UPPL) and Gana Suraksha Party (GSP). The BPF, however, emerged as the single largest party, having won 17 Seats (although one of the MCLAs later defected to the BJP).

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UPPL president Pramod Boro took the oath of office and secrecy as CEM along with other nine executive members including the deputy chief on 15th December last.

Yesterday, Boro said that the BJP-UPPL-GSP combine already has the required number of MCLAs to form the Government in the BTC. "There is no question of regional parties banding together to form the BTC Government."

He said that the composite floor test should be held through healthy democratic system to elect CEM, deputy CEM following selecting speaker, deputy speaker in the house.

He has urged the concerned authority to conduct the floor test with secret ballot papers, not with manual hand-raising.

Earlier, Hagrama Mohilary had appealed all the regional parties in the Council -- including the UPPL and the GSP -- to join his BPF in forming the Government.

"The regional parties can protect the interest and integrity of the region. The positions like chief and deputy chief are not a big issue in uniting the regional forces," Mohilary stated yesterday.

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