BTC Polls: Assam Governor gives consent to BJP-UPPL-GSP to form Executive Council; Promod Boro to be sworn in on Dec 15

GUWAHATI: Assam Governor Jagadish Mukhi has given his consent to the UPPL-BJP-GSP combine to form the Executive Council in the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) on Sunday.

"The Hon'ble Governor of Assam has conveyed his approval of the claim and has desired that the swearing-in-ceremony of Shri Promod Boro as Chief Executive Member, the Deputy Chief Executive Member and Executive Members of the Bodoland Territorial Council may be held at Kokrajhar on 15th December ", stated a release from the Governor's office.

Over 78 percent voter turnout was recorded on Thursday in Bodo Territorial Council’s (BTC) second and final phase of polling, which witnessed police firing in the air to control a clash between BPF and UPPL supporters in Chirang district of Assam.

Till the closing of polls at 4.30 pm, 78.80 per cent of 10,23,404 voters exercised their franchise, deciding the fate of 111 candidates for 19 constituencies spread across Kokrajhar and Chirang districts.

The much-awaited voting for the BTC began on December 7 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.

Out of the total 3,164 polling booths in the four districts, the authorities marked 606 as very sensitive and 1,266 as sensitive, and arranged tight security measures in those.

A total of 23,87,422 voters in the two phases exercised their franchise to elect their representatives for the local council, formed in 2003 and elections being held since 2005.