Assam polls 2021: Bharatiya Janata Party ally UPPL declares final list of candidates

GUWAHATI:

The United Peoples’ Party Liberal (UPPL), a new-found ally of Bharatiya Janata Party in Assam, on Tuesday, declared the final list of eight candidates for the third phase state Assembly elections.

The Pramod Boro-led party, which will be contesting 11 of the 12 seats in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), has nominated Urkhao Gwra Brahma, a former MP and a recipient of the Sahitya Academy Award, to contest from the Chapaguri seat.

The other candidates in the list announced on Tuesday are Somnath Narzary (Gossaigaon), Manaranjan Brahma (Kokrajhar West), Lawrence Islary (Kokrajhar East), Jayanta Basumatary (Sidli), Phanin Boro (Bijni), Leho Ram Boro (Tamulpur) and Bhupen Boro (Barama).

Earlier, UPPL had announced three names: Ratendra Daimary (Majbat), Kamal Azad (Kalaigaon) and Gabinda Chandra Basumatary (Udalguri).

As per the alliance agreement, the party is not contesting from the Panery seat where the BJP has fielded Rajya Sabha member Biswajit Daimary.

Reportedly, UPPL will have friendly contests with ally BJP in three seats – Bijni, Kalaigaon and Majbat.

The emergence of the UPPL factor in BTR assumes significance for the BJP-led alliance regarding its overall performance in this Assembly election.

The Hagrama Mohilary-led Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), which had allied with the incumbent BJP five years back, had swept all the 12 seats in the BTR in 2016.

However, BPF is in the Opposition-led Grand Alliance camp now and has exuded confidence in repeating the performance.

UPPL is currently running the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) after a good show (by the UPPL-BJP combine) in the BTC elections in December last year.

We may note that BPF had won 17 seats out of the 40 seats in the BTC polls, but could not get the numbers required later to form the council.

(Edited by Gabriel G Momin)

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