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Guwahati: The Assam State Election Commission on Tuesday announced that elections to the 40-member Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) will be held on September 22, with counting of votes scheduled for September 26. The BTC administers the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), which covers five districts in northern and western Assam. Of the 40 constituencies, 30 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes, five for non-Scheduled Tribes, and the remaining five are open to all.
The Commission said the BTR has 26,57,937 registered voters, marking an 11.35% increase from the 2020 elections. The number of polling stations has also gone up by 6.77%, from 3,146 to 3,359. It added that the process of enrolling new electors will continue until the last date of filing nominations, in line with the Election Commission of India’s summary revision exercise.
In the 2020 BTC elections, the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL), led by Pramod Boro, joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Gana Suraksha Party (GSP) to form the council government, despite the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) emerging as the single largest party with 17 seats. The UPPL-BJP-GSP alliance secured 22 seats, while defections later increased the UPPL tally to 15 and BJP’s to 14.
This time, the BJP has decided to contest independently, setting the stage for a three-cornered fight with its former ally UPPL and the BPF. The Congress is also expected to focus on minority-dominated constituencies. Political observers have termed the BTC election as the “semi-final” ahead of the 2026 Assam Assembly polls.
