Assam, Guwahati: The Assam State Election Commission (ASEC) has finally announced the much-awaited Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) election dates. Under this, the voting will be held on April 19 and the counting of votes will be done on April 21. In the voting for 60 seats, 50 percent seats will be reserved for women. Addressing a press conference held here today, State Election Commissioner Alok Kumar said that the last date for filing nominations would be March 30 (from 11 am to 3 pm) and scrutiny of papers would be held on April 1, while on April 4. The last day for withdrawal of nomination papers (before 3 PM) will be.
Voting will be held from 7.30 am to 4.30 pm. The counting of votes will begin at 8:00 am on April 21 and will continue till the results are out. He told that in this election, a total of 7,96,829 voters will go to their 789 polling stations and exercise their franchise. These include 399911 female voters and 27 third gender voters.
He said that the maximum limit of expenditure has been fixed for each candidate. This limit will be Rs 2.50 lakh. No more than this can be spent on election campaign or any other election item. Regarding star campaigners, he said that 30 star campaigners would be allowed for a recognized national political party, 25 for a recognized state political party and 15 for a registered unrecognized party. Voting will be done on the basis of photo voter list published on March 5.
He said that this is the first time that the Commission has decided to use Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in elections at all the polling stations. Adequate number of EVMs have been made available for this and all steps have been taken to ensure smooth conduct of polling with the help of these machines. He said that the model code of conduct would come into force with immediate effect in the respective areas under GMC. He said that their registered and recognized or unrecognized political parties will have to publish details related to criminal cases of contesting candidates.
The details mentioned in the affidavits 1 to 3 as prescribed in the Sixth Schedule to the Guwahati Municipal Corporation Act 1971 shall be published once by the candidate and once by his political party in a local local newspaper. This advertisement will have to be published between the last date of withdrawal of nominations and two days before the date of polling. He also said that the COVID-19 protocol will be followed during the conduct of the election. During the voting period, people will have to wear face masks, use sanitizers and follow the rules of distance of 2 yards.
He said that no election campaign of any kind would be allowed during the silence period i.e. from 9 pm to 6 am. Significantly, the number of wards for GMC elections has been increased from 31 to 60. Along with this the delimitation of wards has also been done. Another political party will be in the election like Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), Congress, while on the other hand, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) along with Asom Jatiya Parishad (AJP) Riser Dal (RD) will also participate in the elections. Will be seen hitting.
After the success of AAP in the state civic polls, the party has made up its mind to field candidates in all 60 wards. It is believed that the opposition led by the BJP-led coalition and the Congress will enter the fray.