Electoral Politics in BTAD: A Study of the 2016 Assam Legislative Assembly Elections

The BTC is a territorial council of Assam which was set up under the Constitutional amendment of Sixth Schedule in 2003. Since its creation the BTAD area witnessed three Assembly elections, i.e. 2006, 2011, and 2016. In these elections many regional parties and a host of Independent candidates participated along with the National parties. However, the loggerheads amongst the various groups have challenged the free and fair elections in the territory. Moreover, the power struggle and fratricidal nature of Bodo politics encouraged factionalism in the electoral politics of Bodoland. The landslide victory for the BPF in BTAD area in subsequent elections has shown the lack of healthy competition from other political parties. Another important aspect of these elections is that the region is beyond the reach of national issues, as national parties have only been able to make inroads through alliances with the BPF. In the present study, an attempt has been made to study the electoral politics in BTAD. Moreover, this paper also tries to highlight the fratricidal clashes in the elections.