Over 9 lakh voters to take part in Assam bypolls

Guwahati, Oct 18 (IANS) Over 9 lakh voters will take part in the upcoming bypolls in five assembly constituencies in Assam, the Chief Electoral Officer of the state said on Friday.Byelections in five assembly constituencies - Dholai, Samaguri, Behali, Bongaigaon, and Sidli became due following the elections of five legislators in the lower house of the parliament in this year’s Lok Sabha polls.

The Dholai assembly constituency is reserved for the Scheduled Caste (SC) community and the Sidli seat is reserved for the Scheduled Tribe (ST).

Out of a total electorate of 910,665 in these five assembly segments, 455,924 are women and 454,722 are men.Additionally, 4,389 voters with physical disabilities and 3,788 voters over the age of 85 will also participate in the upcoming bypolls.

The administration has marked 1,078 polling stations across these constituencies for the voting process, with Sidli (ST) having the highest number of booths at 273. Behali constituency has the lowest with 154.

Polling will take place between 7 am to 5 pm, ensuring that voters present at the polling stations before closing will be allowed to vote, said Goel adding that the administration is prepared for the bypoll.“We already have a sufficient number of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and the model code of conduct is already in place in districts where the bypolls will occur,” he said.

According to ECI notification, the last date for filing nominations is October 25, with scrutiny scheduled for October 28 and the deadline for withdrawal of nominations is October 30.The counting will take place on November 23.

The five seats went vacant after five legislators including a cabinet minister were elected in the parliament in this year’s Lok Sabha polls.This included two MLAs from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including a cabinet minister, along with one each from alliance partners Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United Peoples Party Liberal (UPPL), as well as one from the opposition Congress.

BJP’s former cabinet minister Parimal Suklabaidya successfully contested in the Silchar Lok Sabha seat and his earlier assembly seat Dholai was vacant. Meanwhile, another senior BJP leader Ranjit Dutta was elected to the lower house of the parliament this time. He was representing the Behali seat in the assembly.

The AGP has opened its account in the parliament this time with its senior leader Phani Bhusan Choudhury being elected from the Barpeta Lok Sabha seat.

Congress leader Rakibul Hussain defeated the three-time AIUDF MP and party chief Badruddin Ajmal in the Dhubri Lok Sabha seat with a margin of more than 10 lakh votes reinforcing his status as a five-time legislator from the Samuguri assembly seat.

Meanwhile, UPPL's Joyanta Basumatary, the former MLA from Sidli, also made headlines by securing the Kokrajhar seat.