Staff Reporter GUWAHATI: The fates of 337 candidates – 312 males and 25 females – will be sealed in EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) in the final phase of the State Assembly poll on Tuesday.
The polling will be from 7 am to 6 pm. The voting will be under strict COVID-19 protocol. An hour from 5 pm to 6 pm of polling has been extended to let COVID positive and COVID suspect electors to cast their votes. During this extended hour, all polling officials will have to don PPE kits. All polling officials have reached their respective destinations with poll materials. [Read - Latest Assam Election News Update]
Like the two earlier phases of the poll, the electors will have to wear masks. If any voter goes to the polling station without wearing any face mask, he will be provided one at the polling station, free of cost. Thermal screening of electors before entering polling stations is mandatory.
Forty LACs (Legislative Assembly Constituencies) in 12 districts are going to poll on Tuesday. The districts and the LACs are –
South Salmara District: Mankachar and Salmara South;
Dhubri District: Dhubri, Gauripur, Golakganj, Bilasipara West and Bilasipara East;
Kokrajhar District: Gossaigaon, Kokrajhar West and Kokrajhar East;
Chirang District: Sidli and Bijni;
Bongaigaon District: Bongaigaon, Abhayapuri North and Abhayapuri South;
Goalpara District: Dudhnoi, Goalpara East, Goalpara West and Jaleswar;
Bajali District: Bhabanipur and Patacharkuchi;
Barpeta District: Barpeta, Sorbhog, Jania, Baghbar, Sarukhetri and Chenga;
Kamrup District: Boko, Chaygaon, Palasbari and Hajo;
Kamrup (M) District: Jalukbari, Dispur, Gauhati East and Gauhati West;
Nalbari District: Barkhetry and Dharmapur;
Baksa District: Tamulpur, Barama and Chapaguri.
This phase of poll has 79,19,641 electors –40,11,539 males, 39,07,963 females and 139 transgender. This phase has 99,471 voters who are 80+, 149 model polling stations and 316 all-women polling stations. A total of 45,604 polling officials, 33 general observers, 9 police observers, 17 expenditure observers and 986 micro observers will monitor the poll process.
While Dispur LAC has the highest number of 4,11,636 electors, Dharmapur LAC has the lowest number of 1,41,592 voters. Gauhati West LAC has the highest number of 15 candidates and Boko LAC has the lowest number of three candidates. The total number of polling stations in this phase is 11,401.
Apart from them, 5,686 polling stations will be webcast. Office of the Chief Election Commissioner in New Delhi, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Assam and the District Election Officer will monitor the poll exercise through the live webcasting.
Apart from 320 companies of paramilitary forces, a constable and a home guard will man each polling station. Sector and zonal police officers will monitor the polling.
A total of 11,401 EVMs will be used tomorrow for the last phase.
During the ongoing elections till third phase, cash and valuables including liquor, narcotics and drugs worth Rs 119.28 crore has been seized till April 5.
For effective monitoring, a total of 53 Expenditure Observers and 90 General Observers have been deployed in Assam. 603 Flying Squads (FS) and 762 Static Surveillance Teams (SST) were operationalized to check suspicious movement of cash, liquor, drugs and freebies.
ECI's user-friendly and citizen-centric mobile application – cVigil, empowers people to report cases of MCC violations in real time basis, with auto geographical location and assured response within 100 minutes. A total number of 1347 cases of Model Code of Conduct violations were reported through the cVigil App till April 4, out of which 947 were disposed. Apart from this, a total of 1479 cases were reported through the offline mode also.