The Gauhati High Court on Tuesday ordered composite floor tests of the newly-elected Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) by December 26. 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).
UPPL chief Pramod Boro has been sworn in as the new Chief Executive Member of the BTC.
Earlier this month Bodoland council polls - seen by many as a forerunner to Assembly elections in Assam in six months - threw up a fractured mandate. The BPF emerged as the single largest party with 17 seats, but the BJP (supported by the UPPL and GSP) formed the Council. The BJP won nine seats and the UPPL 12. The GSP won one seat. The lone Congress winner quit to join the BJP.
Later a BPF member crossed over to the BJP as well, giving the alliance considerably more than the 21 seats needed for a majority in the 40-member Council.
Elected BJP, UPPL and GSP members were first stashed away at a hotel in Guwahati before being shifted to Shillong. The BPF has kept its members at a hotel in Kokrajhar, sources have said.
The BPF has been a partner of the Sarbananda Sonowal government in Assam; it has three ministers in the cabinet. However, Assam BJP has stated that it does not wish to carry its alliance into the 2021 state elections. This, the party has said, is why it went solo in the BTC polls.
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