Kokrajhar, June 15: Elections to the nascent Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) appear unlikely to take place before November, leading to doubts in people’s minds on whether the new set-up will also go the Bodoland Autonomous Council (BAC) way. Though the BTC election was scheduled to be held within six months of the formation of the Interim Bodo Council on December 6 last year, it was unlikely that the elections will be held before another five months.
“The elections can be held in November at the earliest,” said BTC executive member Derhasat Basumatary.
A BTC official said that with the deputy commissioners of the new districts also assuming office, “the election process is expected to speed up now”.
Another executive member said the “process of delimitation of the constituencies and then the Lok Sabha elections have pushed back the BTC poll process”.
He said the interim council has already sent a proposal to the state government for holding the polls.
“We hope the elections will not be delayed further beyond 2004,” he added.
The BTC executive council — which will administer the newly-formed Bodoland Autonomous Territorial District (BTAD) consisting of Kokrajhar, Udalguri, Baksa and Chirang districts — will have 46 members including 30 Scheduled Tribe members, five non-tribals, five general category members and six Dispur nominees.
There were apprehensions among sections of the Bodo populace that the BTC will meet the same fate as the failed Autonomous Council, which faded into history without elections being held even after a decade of its existence.
“Moreover, the elections will help end the friction among the different communities as they will be elect their representatives to the council,” said J. Brahma.