Assam panchayat, zila parishad polls to be held in two phases on 5 and 9 December, says state election commissioner

Guwahati: The panchayat and zila parishad polls will take place across Assam in two phases on 5 and 9 December in 2018, Assam State Election Commission (ASEC) informed on Monday. Addressing a press conference, Assam State Election Commissioner HN Bora said with announcement of the election schedule, the model code of conduct comes into force with immediate effect. “The elections will take place in two phases and the entire process will be completed by 15 December. The polls will take place on 5 and 9 December, while the counting will take place on 12 December,” he added. [caption id=“attachment_5186731” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] Bora informed that polling will take place at 23,505 booths spread across 26 districts and 14 civil sub-divisions with paper ballots. The ASEC has categorised 3,665 booths as very sensitive, 8,243 as sensitive and 11,597 as safe. “This time, the number of voters have increased by 21.49 percent to a total of 1,56,41,456 persons, which comprises 81,23,835 males and 75,17,621 females,” he added. “The polling will be held to elect 21,990 panchayat members, 2,199 panchayat presidents (GPP), 2,199 anchalik panchayat members (APM) and 420 zila parishad members (ZPM),” Bora said. “The total expenditure for the entire exercise will be Rs 150 crore. The expenditure ceiling has been fixed at Rs 6.4 lakh for each ZPM candidate, Rs 1.6 lakh for every APM and GPP candidate and Rs 16,000 for each GPM candidate,” he added. The Commissioner further informed that the provisions of two-child norm, educational qualifications and functional sanitary toilet will be applicable as per the recent amendment to the Assam Panchayat Act, 1994. “The total number of civil officials and staff required for conduct of the panchayat polls will be over 1.5 lakh. They will be supported by the personnel from police for security purpose,” he added. As per the election schedule, the last date of filing nominations for the first phase will be 15 November, while it is 19 November for the second phase.