Elections to the 40-member Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) on Monday recorded a turnout of 70.96 per cent.
Voting was largely peaceful across the five districts of the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) — Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa, Udalguri and Tamulpur.
A total of 316 candidates were in the fray with a three-way contest between the BJP, United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) and the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF).
The BJP and UPPL, allies in Dispur and in the BTC administration, fought separately “to test” their individual strengths ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
The polls are particularly crucial for the BPF, which ruled the BTC for three consecutive terms before losing power in 2020, when the BJP and UPPL joined hands to form the council. The Congress, too, is hoping to gauge its standing under a new PCC leadership.
Campaigning was disrupted following the sudden death of singer-composer Zubeen Garg on Friday. The BJP, which had mobilised all ministers and
senior leaders including chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, had to scale down its outreach, a Kokrajhar resident said.
The BTC has an electorate of 26,58,153, with women (13,36,600) outnumbering men. Counting of votes is scheduled for September 26.
Cabinet decisions
The state cabinet, chaired by chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday, cleared the establishment of the 10th Assam Police battalion at Sonapur near Guwahati at a cost of ₹260 crore.
It also approved a 20 per cent Puja bonus for workers of tea gardens under the Assam tea corporation.
In a move aimed at levelling the playing field, the cabinet decided that question papers for the Combined Competitive (Preliminary) Examination (CCE) conducted by the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) will be set in both English and Assamese. This is expected to help candidates from rural and vernacular backgrounds.
However, comprehension questions in the General Studies Paper-II will remain in English.
The cabinet also entrusted the operation of the 5,000-capacity Jyoti Bishnu Auditorium in Guwahati to the Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra Society.
Further, it approved enhanced remuneration, leave entitlements and annual appraisal formats for 65 science and mathematics facilitators engaged through the Assam Science, Technology and Environment Council (ASTEC).
Additional inputs from PTI