Lok Sabha polls: Assam to have 3 phase voting for 14 seats, starting April 19
Assam has 14 Lok Sabha seats, and this is the first election to be held in the state after last year’s delimitation exercise
Guwahati: Rejecting a request made by the BJP-led government in Assam to hold elections in the state before the Bohag Bihu celebrations, the Election Commission on Saturday announced that voting in the northeastern state would be held in three phases beginning April 19, which falls after the festival.
Bohag Bihu or Rongali Bihu, which falls in mid-April, marks the start of the Assamese New Year and is the most important festival of the state. Celebrations continue for almost a month across the state.
During the EC team’s visit to the state earlier this month, the BJP delegation had requested it to hold polling in the state ahead of Bohag Bihu.
Assam has 14 Lok Sabha seats, and this is the first election being held in the state after last year’s delimitation exercise which witnessed large scale redrawing of boundaries of both assembly and parliamentary seats. Polling in Assam will be held on April 19, April 26 and May 7.
In strife-torn Manipur and Tripura, both of which have two Lok Sabha seats each, polling will be held on two phases on April 19 and April 26. Manipur has witnessed ethnic clashes between Meiteis and Kukis since May last year in which at least 219 persons have died and over 50,000 have been displaced.
“The BJP-led NDA is all set to continue its momentum of bringing unprecedented growth and development in the country. With the announcement of the 2024 Lok Sabha election dates by the EC, we are fully prepared to serve the masses once again with support and cooperation from all sections,” Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh posted on X.
Within declaration of Lok Sabha poll schedule, the ruling BJP in Tripura said that the party is prepared to face the contest and its poll campaign is already at its peak.
“Our party activists were deployed on the ground long back. They are visiting every house to spread the message of making Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hands strong. We are confident of our victory”, said BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya.
Tripura has two Lok Sabha seats: West constituency and East constituency.
The Congress, too, expressed hope to win the West seat. “ People are giving us positive responses during our poll campaign. We are confident of our victory”, said Congress president Asish Kumar Saha.
The BJP fielded former chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb as candidate in West constituency and TIPRA Motha party founder Pradyot Kishore Debbarma’s elder sister Kriti Singh Debbarma in East constituency.
The Congress fielded Asish Kumar Saha against Biplab Deb in West constituency leaving the East constituency for the CPM as per their seat sharing agreement.
The CPM is yet to announce its candidate.
Both the Lok Sabha seats are with the BJP since 2019.
Polling in Arunachal Pradesh, which will also witness voting for the 60-member assembly, Mizoram, Nagaland and Meghalaya will take place on the first phase on April 19. Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya have two LS seats each while Mizoram and Nagaland have one seat each.
Nagaland, which has one seat in the Lok Sabha, will go to elections on April 19. According to the chief electoral officer’s establishment, there are currently a total of 13,17,036 voters including 660544 female, 656489 male and three third gender voters as per the present final roll.
Ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led People’s Democratic Alliance has nominated Chumben Murry, a former MLA and chief minister Neiphiu Rio’s advisor, as its consensus candidate for the forthcoming Lok Sabha election while Congress has named its Nagaland unit president S Supongmeren Jamir as its candidate.
Meanwhile, the Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO), which has declared “public emergency” in six eastern districts of Nagaland demanding that the Union Government implement its assurance to create an autonomous Frontier Nagaland Territory (FNT) , on Friday reaffirmed its resolution to abstain from participating in any election process.
The ENPO has also announced its intention to disallow any political party to take up campaigning exercises in its jurisdiction for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls if the Centre fails to settle the FNT issue before the model code of conduct comes into force.
As part of the “public emergency” in the districts of Mon, Tuensang, Longleng, Kiphire, Noklak and Shamator, the ENPO has restricted the movement of government (both central and state) vehicles, functioning of government offices and barred governments sponsored construction activities with exception of emergency services.
(With inputs from Priyanka Deb Barman in Agartala and Alice Yhoshu in Kohima)