The Gauhati High Court has asked the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) to put its governance on hold three days after a three-party alliance forged by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had taken charge.
The order by the single-judge Bench of Justice Suman Shyam was based on a petition by leaders of the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), which had emerged as the single largest party in the BTC elections held on December 7 and December 10.
The BPF had ruled the BTC since its creation in 2003 until its dissolution in April this year.
BPF president Hagrama Mohilary and some of his party colleagues had challenged the constitutional validity of the swearing-in of a few BTC members, including that of Pramod Boro as the council’s Chief Executive Member.
Mr. Boro is the president of the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) that allied with the BJP and Gana Suraksha Party headed by independent Lok Sabha member Naba Kumar Sarania to form the council.
Alleging violation of Election Rules, 2004, the petitioners said the Governor should have invited the BPF to prove majority before administering the oath of office to the members of the three-party alliance. The BPF had won 17 of the 40 BTC seats while the alliance partners won 22 with the lone Congress member later switching over to the BJP.
“Our party should have been given the chance to prove majority. Democratic norms were not followed,” said BPF leader and Assam’s Social Welfare Minister Pramila Rani Brahma.
The High Court has fixed December 22 as the next date of hearing.
The BTC administers four districts of Assam that are called Bodoland Territorial Region. The Governor is the Constitutional head of the council that comes under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
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