Int’l border sealed for BTC polls

Guwahati: The Indo-Bhutan border along with Assam will be sealed for 24 hours from this evening in view of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) elections, to be held on Wednesday.
In view of the elections to the BTC, the International Border Gates along the Indo-Bhutan border would be sealed and restrictions imposed on the movement of people/ vehicles through the gates from 1800 hrs on April 7 to 1800 hrs of April 8, an official statement said here on Tuesday.
Moreover, to prevent any untoward incidents during the polling, security has been beefed up in all the four districts of BTAD, it added.
Elections for all 40 seats of the BTC will be held tomorrow in the four districts of Baksa, Kokrajhar, Udalguri and Chirang.
All major parties of the state, including Congress, BJP, AGP, AIUDF and BPF, are contesting in all or some of the seats.
Several smaller non-Bodo parties are also in the fray.The run-up to the polls have seen violence in the BTC areas, with clashes between rival party supporters, torching of election offices and threatening of candidates and supporters reported.
The Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), which was earlier an ally of the ruling Congress in Dispur, currently holds power in the BTC.
The Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) was formed as part of the Bodo Accord of 2003, paving the way for the now-defunct Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT) rebels to return to the mainstream and take over the BTC reins through a majority mandate. (UNI)