GUWAHATI:
Assam recorded 70 percent voters’ turnout in the civic body polls held across 80 municipalities till the evening of March 6.
“Overall voters’ turnout is 70 per cent till 8 pm,” said a senior official of Assam State Election Commission (ASEC) here.
This time the election to Silchar Municipality Board was not conducted as the matter has been under the sub-judice of the Gauhati High Court.
Of the 977 wards that went for elections, results of 57 wards have been declared uncontested and the election was held for 920 wards.
A total of 2,532 candidates contested the polls this time, of which 825 were BJP candidates, 243 belonged to AGP, and 758 were candidates belonging to other parties, including independents.
The Civic polls this time was not a ballot paper affair, as it witnessed the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for the first time.
Giving further details, the official said that commission has not recived any request for re-polling, and everything went peacefully.
“No untoward incidents like booth capturing or similar poll-related violence took place and the election was completed peacefully,” he said.
According to the ASEC, North Guwahati Municipality Board and Palashbari Municipality Board poll witnessed 59.07 and 82.10 per cent voter’s turnout respectively.
Meanwhile, Kamrup deputy commissioner Kailash Karthik N thanked everyone for extending cooperation and support to conduct the poll successfully that began at 8 am with thousands of officials deployed for election duty.
This time, more than 16 lakh voters – 8.32 lakh men, 8.41 lakh women, and 17 transgenders were eligible to vote in the civic body elections.
As soon as the election started, Assam Chief Minister took to Twitter and wrote, “Municipal elections are an important step towards ensuring public participation in the governance of urban areas. As polls to urban local bodies are being held across Assam today, I urge everyone to exercise their democratic right for determining their future.”
The counting for the votes will be carried out on March 8