Guwahati, Oct 18: The Assam election department is gearing up for next month’s by-elections to five constituencies of the state.
Addressing mediapersons here, Assam chief electoral officer Anurag Goel said preparations to conduct peaceful, free and fair by-polls on November 13, 2024 have gained momentum with the nomination process beginning on Friday.
“The last date of filing nominations has been scheduled on October 25, 2024 and voting will be held in 1078 polling stations across five constituencies – Dholai, Sidli, Bongaigaon, Behali and Samaguri – on November 13, 2024 from 7 am to 5 pm. People who stand in the voting queue by 5 pm on the same day will be able to vote,” Goel said.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) had on Tuesday announced the dates for the by-polls in the five Assembly constituencies, along with the 43 other Assembly constituencies and two Lok Sabha seats.
Notably, the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) has come into effect in the by-poll bound districts of the state – Nagaon, Bongaigaon, Biswanath, Cachar, Chirang and parts of Kokrajhar.
The Assam CEO informed that with the Model Code of Conduct coming into effect since the ECI’s announcement, the election department has deployed nine flying squad teams (FST) along with static surveillance teams (SST) and video surveillance teams (VST) in accordance with the requirements of each constituency.
“We have also kept over 200 percent stock of EVMs for all the polling stations in the five Assembly constituencies. The first randomisation of EVMs will take place on Saturday, the second randomisation is expected on November 1, 2024 while commissioning will take place from November 4, 2024,” Goel informed.
“State level media certification and monitoring committee (MCMC) committee, joint CEO-level MCMC and district-level MCMC have been formed. Besides, anti-defacement activities have been carried out according to the guidelines of ECI,” he said.
A total of 9,10,665 (454722 male and 455924 female) general voters, including 19 third gender voters, are set to cast their votes in 1,078 polling stations across five legislative Assembly constituencies in the state.
The date for scrutiny of nominations has been fixed on October 28, 2024 while the last date for the withdrawal of candidatures has been scheduled on October 30, 2024.
The date of counting of votes in the five seats of the state, along with several other seats where by-polls will be held in the country, has been scheduled on November 23, 2024.