A CORRESPONDENT
LAKHIMPUR: The Lakhimpur district administration is all set to conduct the polling for the first phase of Assam Legislative Assembly Election - 2021 in the four Legislative Assembly Constituencies (LACs) under the district on Saturday. These LACs are — No. 109 Bihpuriya LAC, No. 110 Naoboicha LAC, No.111 Lakhimpur LAC and No. 112 Dhakuakhana LAC. Notably, the polling for the first phase of Assam Legislative Assembly (ALA) Election, 2021 will be held on March 27 along with 43 other LACs of 11 districts of the State.
In the district, a total of 32 candidates, representing the major political parties of the State, including independent candidates, are in fray. The eight candidates who are in contest in No. 109 Bihpuriya LAC are— independent candidate octogenarian politician-cum-former Education Minister Premadhar Borah, Congress candidate-cum-All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary Bhupen Kumar Borah, BJP candidate Dr. Amiya Kumar Bhuyan, Assam Jatiya Parishad candidate (AJP) Achyut Saikia, independent candidates Anup Saikia, Shubheswar Gogoi, Tuleswar Pegu and Mahim Bania.
On the other hand, the highest number of candidates among the 47 LACs, wherein the first phase of Assembly Election will be held, is seen in No. 110 Naoboicha LAC of the district with a total of 12 candidates. They are — BJP-AGP-UPPL candidate Jayanta Khaond, Congress candidate and former cabinet minister Bharat Chandra Narah, RUC candidate Ubaidur Rahman, AJP candidate Putali Kayastha, Bharatiya Gana Parishad candidate Bikash Debnath, Bharatiya Nari Shakti candidate Saheba Ahmed, Raijor Dal candidate Azizur Rahman, Nationalist Congress Party candidate Dipak Saikia, Socialist Community Center of India (Communist) candidate Anupam Chutia, independent candidates Rao Gajendra Singh, Abdul Gafur and Biri Joy.
The seven candidates who are in contest in No 111 Lakhimpur LAC are— existing MLA-cum- general secretary of Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) Utpal Dutta, BJP candidate Manab Deka, SUCI (Communist) candidate Birinchi Pegu, Congress candidate Dr. Joy Prakash Das, Voter's Party International candidate Dilwar Hussain, Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) candidate Ranjan Borpatra Gohain and independent candidate Nirmal Payeng. Nabajit Dutta, who filed his nomination papers in the LAC too, withdrew his candidature later.
A total of five candidates, including State Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Naba Kumar Doley as BJP candidate, Lalit Pegu as Voter's Party International (VPI) candidate, Jyotika Doley as SUCI (C) candidate, Padma Losan Doley as Congress candidate and Satyajit Regan as AJP candidate are in contest in No. 112 Dhakuakhana LAC.
A total of 7,67,014 electors of the district will cast their franchise in the ensuing election across the four LACs of the district. The LAC-wise distribution of the electors of the district are— 1,50,178, (male 76,271, female 73,907) in Bihpuriya LAC; 2,21,651 voters (male 1,12,117, female 1,09,533) in Naoboicha LAC; 1,85,818 voters (male 93,513, female 92,306) in Lakhimpur LAC and 2,10,546 voters (male 1,06,037, female 1,04,509) in Dhakuakhana LAC.
On the other hand, a total of 34 Zonal Officers, 117 Sector officers, 1269 presiding officers and 2,907 polling officers will conduct the polling in the four LACs of the district. All of these officers have already taken charge and the Presiding and Polling Officers have set out to their polling stations along with the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) or Verified Paper Record (VPR). In every polling station, the polling will be conducted by adhering to the COVID-19 protocol strictly. The Police Department and the para-military forces are vigilant across the district in order to conduct the polling in a free, fair and transparent manner.