Guwahati: The counting of votes for the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) elections started from 8 AM Saturday. The voting for BTC was completed in two phases on 7 and 10 December. A total of 40 council seats are being contested by political parties BPF, UPPL, BJP and AIUDF-Congress. The magic number for gaining control of the council is by winning 21 of the 40 seats. Voting was done using paper ballots. The BPF has been ruling the BTC for three straight terms since the first elections were held in 2005. The BTC was formed in 2003.
The second and final phase of polling on 10 December witnessed over 78 per cent voter turnout on Thursday with minor incidents of violence. Voting was completed for 19 constituencies in the second phase in the districts of Kokrajhar and Chirang.
The first phase had over 77.01 per cent of polling in 21 seats from Udalguri and Baksa districts. Overall the polls were peaceful this time around.
