News Analysis India

Tag: UPPL

  • Assam polls: Allies BJP, UPPL to go for friendly fight in 3 seats

    Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: The BJP’s new-found ally United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) will contest in 11 seats in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) in the upcoming Assam elections.

    The BTR has 12 constituencies in four districts such as Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa, and Udalguri which are administered by the autonomous Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC).

    The BJP and the UPPL will have friendly contests in three seats such as Bijni, Kalaigaon and Majbat. The UPPL is not contesting from the Panery seat where the BJP has fielded Rajya Sabha member Biswajit Daimary.

    The UPPL, which is headed by former student leader and the incumbent Chief Executive Member (CEM) of the BTC Pramod Bodo, announced the names of eight candidates on Tuesday. Earlier, it announced the names of three candidates.

    Urkhao Gwra Brahma — a former MP, social worker and poet who is a recipient of the Sahitya Academy Award — has been fielded from the Chapaguri seat.

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    The other candidates of the party are Somnath Narzary (Gossaigaon), Lawrence Islari (Kokrajhar East), Manaranjan Brahma (Kokrajhar West), Jayanta Basumatary (Sidli), Phanin Boro (Bijni), Leho Ram Boro (Tamulpur), Bhupen Boro (Barama), Ratendra Daimary (Majbat), Kamal Azad (Kalaigaon) and Gabinda Chandra Basumatary (Udalguri).

    Gabinda Chandra Basumatary, a rebel leader-turned-politician is the Deputy CEM of the BTC.

    In the 2016 elections, the BJP’s now-estranged ally Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) had won all the 12 seats in the BTR. Ditched by the BJP, the BPF has since joined the Congress-led grand alliance of Opposition. The ten-party alliance was formed with the sole aim of ousting the BJP from power.

    The BPF had ruled the BTC for 17 years since its creation in 2003 as a political solution to the Bodo agitation for a separate state. In the BTC elections held in December last year, the BJP-UPPL combine had defeated the BPF and grabbed power.

    The BPF had emerged as the single largest party by winning 17 of the BTC’s 40 seats but could not cobble up the numbers to retain power.

  • Assam Assembly polls: BJP, allies finalise sharing of 86 out of 126 seats

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The BJP and its two alliance partners in Assam — the AGP and UPPL — have finalised their seat-sharing arrangements in 86 Assembly segments where polling will be held mostly in the first and second phase, BJP state unit chief Ranjit Dass said on Thursday night.

    Assam has 126 assembly constituencies where elections will be held in three phases, on March 27, April 1 and April 6.

    “The BJP and its allies have finalised the seat-sharing arrangements. I am not disclosing now the number of seats each party will contest as our alliance partners have to sort out some of their internal issues,” Dass told reporters here after meetings with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), United People’s Party Liberal as well as the BJP top brass.

    The BJP state unit chief said his party will announce its own candidates for the first two phases soon.

    However, the party has not finalised candidates in 12 seats for the time being and has kept them pending, he said.

    Asked whether Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal will again be projected as the chief ministerial candidate for the coming assembly polls, the BJP state unit president said the party does not make such an announcement where it has its own government.

    “We project a chief ministerial candidate where we don’t have our own government. Where we have our own government, we don’t make such an announcement,” he said.

    Before the 2016 assembly elections, when Congress was in power, Sonowal was projected as the chief ministerial candidate by the BJP.

    The BJP Central Election Committee, comprising top leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also met on Thursday to approve the list of party candidates for Assam.

    In the first of the three phases, 47 constituencies will go for polls.

    In the second phase, polling will be held in 39 constituencies and in the third phase, 40 constituencies.

    The last date for filing of nomination for the first phase is March 9, for the second phase it is March 12 and for the third phase, the last date of submitting nomination papers is March 19.

    In the 2016 Assembly polls, the BJP won 60 seats and the AGP 14.

    The UPPL is a new partner of the BJP and does not have any MLA now.

    The Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), which was part of the BJP-led alliance, had won 12 seats in 2016.

    It is no longer an alliance partner of the BJP and recently joined the opposition Congress-led ‘Mahajoot’.

  • BJP, allies agree on Assam seat-sharing after meet with Shah, Nadda; announcement soon

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The BJP and its two Assam allies — the AGP and the UPPL — on Wednesday “almost finalised” their seat-sharing pact for the Assam assembly polls and a formal announcement will be made in a day or two, sources said.

    The “agreement on 99 per cent” of the seats has been reached at a high-level meeting attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP President J P Nadda, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal at Shah’s residence, the sources said.

    BJP’s state unit chief Ranjit Dass, AGP President and state minister Atul Bora, UPPL chief Pramod Boro, BJP leader and state minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also attended the meeting.

    A formal announcement on the number of seats each party will contest will be made in a day or two, the sources said.

    While the AGP, which won 14 constituencies in the 2016 assembly elections, may get around 25 seats to contest, the UPPL, which is a new partner of the BJP and does not have any MLA now, is expected to get around 12 seats to contest, the sources said.

    The BJP, which had won 60 seats in 2016, will contest the rest of the constituencies.

    The BPF, which was part of the BJP-led alliance, had won 12 seats in 2016.

    The BPF is no longer an alliance partner of the BJP and the regional party had recently joined the opposition Congress-led ‘Mahajoot’.

    Assam has 126 assembly constituencies.

    After the joint meeting, the BJP leaders met separately at the residence of Nadda to scrutinise the list of the party’s candidates for the polls.

    The BJP Central Election Committee, comprising top leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is likely to meet on Thursday to approve the first list of candidates.

    The three-phased Assam assembly polls will be held on March 27, April 1 and April 6.

    In the first phase, 47 constituencies will go for polls, in the second phase, polling will be held in 39 constituencies and in the third phase, polling will be held in 40 constituencies.

    The last date for filing nominations for the first phase is March 9, the last date for filing nominations for the second phase is March 12 and the last date for filing nominations for the third phase is March 19.

    While chief minister Sonowal’s Majuli and AGP president Bora’s Bokakhat constituencies will go for polling in the first phase, minister Sarma’s Jalukbari and Assam BJP chief Dass’ current seat Sarbhog will go for polling in the third phase.

    The UPPL president Boro is the chief executive member of the Bodoland Territorial Council, an autonomous body created under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, comprising the Bodo tribal dominated areas of Assam.