Assam panchayat polls to be held in two phases on May 2 7

Guwahati, Apr 2 (PTI) 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.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)