The president of the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL), Pramod Boro, sounded the poll bugle on Sunday and vowed to oust the ruling Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), an ally of the BJP in Dispur, in the forthcoming election to the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC).

The former student leader has been attending party meetings across the four districts under the BTC — Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Udalguri — where the party is trying to gain confidence of the non-tribal population who comprise almost 75 per cent of the total population of the Bodo belt.

On Sunday, Boro attended a party meeting at Barimakha village near Tamulpur in Baksa district, 96km from Guwahati, where several people joined the UPPL.

Talking to the media, Boro, the former president of the influential All Bodo Students’ Union (Absu) said: “Everyone irrespective of community and religion has voluntarily come forward for a change in the forthcoming BTC council polls and a festive atmosphere prevails over the Bodo belt where people are euphoric after the Bodo pact which is a good sign for a healthy democracy.”

“If there is a free and fair election we are not only confident but rest assured that the party will win a landslide victory and form the government. Who comes to power is not a concern of our party as we are not power hungry like the BPF. But our sole aim is to address the issues plaguing the people and that is where we differ from the BPF,” Boro said.

He claimed that there was an anti-incumbency wave against the ruling party and people were batting for a change of guard that would strengthen democracy in real sense.

Boro said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of sabka saath sabka vishwas, must be reflected at the grassroots and not just remain on paper.

“We are batting for good governance where every community — be they Bodos, Assamese, religious minorities, Bengalis, Adivasis, among others — will have equal social and political rights. At present, everyone including farmers, teachers, women are grappling with many issues and we vouch to address these issues of 32 lakh people of the Bodo belt once we are voted to power,” Boro said.

On speculation of Boro contesting from Debargaon, the home constituency of BTC chief Hagrama Mohillary, he said: “If the people and the party want me to contest from Debargaon constituency, I will definitely contest. It all depends where the people and the party want me to contest.”

The BPF has already announced 16 candidates in the 46-member council where elections are held for 40 seats and six members are nominated by the governor from the non-represented communities.

In the 2015 council polls, the BPF retained power for the third consecutive term by winning 20 seats and gaining 28.5 per cent votes.