Guwahati, March 11: The Bodoland Peoples Front has agreed in principle to a seat-sharing arrangement with the Congress in the April 9 Bodoland Territorial Council elections, notification for which was issued today.

The Congress is an ally of the BPF, which controls the BTC, in Dispur.

Today’s political development is a huge morale booster for the Assam PCC, that has been playing second fiddle to the BPF in the Bodoland Territorial Areas District (BTAD) for the past five years.

The BTAD comprises Kokrajhar, Udalguri, Baksa and Chirang districts.

The Congress did not field any candidate in the Assembly or the Lok Sabha elections to keep the alliance intact, leaving local Congress leaders and workers disenchanted.

Senior BPF leader and cabinet minister Chandan Brahma this morning formally conveyed to Bhumidhar Barman that a BPF team would sit with the panel on Saturday to finalise seat-sharing modalities, PCC secretary Rana Khan told this correspondent.

Barman is the convenor of the committee set up to look after election-related issues in the BTAD,

The other members of the committee are health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, PCC vice-president Y.L. Karna and MLA Chandi Basumatary.

Brahma’s gesture comes a day after BPF leader Hagrama Mohilary’s statement in Barama after the party’s central working committee meeting that it would contest 40 seats.

His colleague E. Mushahary had pointed to Congress’s lack of grassroots support to contest the polls.

Khan and Karna — the PCC observers for the BTAD — after several visits to assess the party’s prospects were in favour of contesting the polls.

Having gone through their assessment in detail, chief minister Tarun Gogoi and PCC president Bhubaneswar Kalita agreed to contest.

The PCC membership drive in the four districts — Baksa (24,000), Chirang (21,868), Kokrajhar (16,000) and Udalguri (12,000) — and sustained pressure from local leaders to contest also swayed the leadership.

The Congress is understood to be contesting nearly20 of the 40 seats and will go ahead even if the seat-sharing talks fail.

The Rabiram Narzary-led Bodoland Peoples Progressive Front (BPPF) has decided to contest in all the seats while simultaneously holding talks with anti-Congress, anti-BPF forces.

Narzary, however, is unhappy with the date as it falls during Bihu or Bwisagu.

State election commissioner Biren Dutta said counting would take place on April 13 and ballots would be used instead of electronic voting machines.

Nominations could be filed between March 17 and 23 with the final voter list published on March 16. Special ballot papers will be used with the signature of the returning officer in full on the back to check forgery.

Dispur had assured full security for the smooth conduct of the polls, Dutta said.