GUWAHATI: Panchayat elections will be held in two phases on May 2 and May 7 in Assam’s 27 districts for the first time after the delimitation of constituencies, State Election Commissioner Alok Kumar said on Wednesday. The notification for the polls will be issued on Thursday and the last date of filing of nomination is April 11, Kumar said at a press conference here.
The scrutiny of nomination papers and the list of validly nominated candidates will be held on April 12, while the last date of withdrawal of candidature is April 17 till 3 pm. The publication of the final list of contesting candidates is scheduled for the same day after 3 p.M. Polling will be held on both days from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm and repoll, if any, for the first phase will be held on May 4 and for the second phase on May 9, Kumar said.
The counting of votes for both phases will be held simultaneously on May 11, he said. Polling in the first phase will be held in the districts of Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Charaideo, Sivasagar, Majuli, Jorhat, Golaghat, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Sonitpur, Biswanath, Cachar, Hailakandi and Sribhumi. In the second phase, voting will take place in Dhubri, South Salmara, Mankachar, Goalpara, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Bajali, Nalbari, Kamrup, Kamrup (Metro), Hojai Nagaon, Morigaon and Darrang.
Seven districts of the state are under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, where autonomous council polls are held, Kumar said. A total electorate of 1,80,36,682, comprising 90,71,264 males, 89,65,010 females and 408 others, are eligible to exercise their franchise in 25,007 polling stations, he said.
The size of the electorate has registered an increase of 13.27 per cent since 2018, while there has been a 6 per cent rise in the number of polling stations from 23,505 in 2018. The total seats include 21,920 gram panchayat (GP) members with 10,883 seats for women, 2,192 GP presidents, including 1,097 reserved for women, 2,192 GP vice-presidents, 2,192 anchalik parishad (AP) members, 181 AP presidents, 181 AP vice presidents and 397 zilla parishad members, the official said.
Kumar said the model code of conduct in rural areas of districts where panchayat elections will be held would come into force with immediate effect from Wednesday. Panchayat elections were scheduled to be held last year, but were delayed due to the delimitation exercise in the state followed by several writ petitions filed in the Gauhati High Court, challenging the delimitation of some panchayats.
The Gauhati High Court had directed the Assam State Election Commission not to issue any notification regarding holding of panchayat polls without its permission till January 9, after hearing the writ petitions. The court subsequently allowed panchayat elections to be held except in the areas mentioned in nine writ petitions in Sribhumi, Hailakandi, Cachar and Morigaon.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had then said that though the court had paved the way for panchayat elections, it could be held only after the board examinations of Classes 10 and 12, which concluded in the last week of March.
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