Guwahati: A dual-arrangement strategy in Bodoland could well emerge as the defining factor in Assam’s electoral battle—especially if the contest turns tight on May 4, the result day.
In the 126-member Assembly, the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), with its 15 seats, has consistently played a decisive role in helping the Bharatiya Janata Party secure a comfortable edge over the majority mark in last two assembly elections.
BJP’s `partners of convenience’ strategy has paid the saffron party rich dividends when it came to poll arithmetic in the assembly elections in 2016 and 2021.
Apart from other NDA partners in its fold, BJP has walked a tightrope in Bodoland and this election season it is no different.
The balancing act between to arch rival regional parties in the BTR, Bodo Peoples Front (BPF) and United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) show a constant feature of BJP’s poll strategy in electoral politics only thing which matters is pragmatism not dogmatic idealism.
This calibrated balancing act—allying with BPF in 2016 and later backing UPPL in 2021—has helped the party electorally at crucial moments when it needed numbers to form the government in Dispur.
This dual-engagement strategy allowed the BJP to hedge its bets, ensuring that whichever regional force gained ground in the tribal land, it remained central to the power structure.
The flexibility of this arrangement became more evident when the NDA backed Rajya Sabha candidate Pramod Boro, even as his party soon after withdrew from the alliance, reflecting the transactional nature of Bodoland politics.
The dramatic political shift in the Bodoland within five years of BPF making a spectacular comeback in the council elections in 2025 and BJP’s recalibration only shows that in politics there is no permanent enemy or foe.
Within a year seat-sharing negotiations with its former partner UPPL broke down, leading to its exit from the alliance ahead of the Assembly elections.
In the crucial 15 Assembly seats of BTR, the BJP has now opted for a clear and focused approach. The party is contesting 4 seats, while its ally BPF has been allocated 11 seats. UPPL, now outside the NDA fold, is contesting in seven seats independently, setting the stage for a fragmented contest that could split regional votes and work to BJP’s advantage.
The broader NDA seat-sharing formula across Assam, with BJP contesting 89 seats and allies like AGP and BPF taking their share, underlines a strategy driven by electoral pragmatism rather than ideological rigidity.
In Bodoland, this approach becomes even more evident, where alliances are shaped by arithmetic and ground-level dynamics rather than long-term political commitments.
What makes BJP’s strategy particularly effective is its ability not just to switch alliances, but to ensure that neither BPF nor UPPL becomes entirely hostile.
By backing UPPL to dislodge BPF from power in the BTC between 2020 and 2025, and then realigning with BPF after its resurgence, the BJP has managed to retain its central role in the region’s political landscape throughout.
This has ensured that its leverage in Bodoland remains intact, irrespective of which regional force gains prominence.
As Assam heads into another crucial election, this “partners of convenience” model could prove decisive not just in Bodoland, but across other regions where regional aspirations intersect with national ambitions.