GUWAHATI, May 11: The BJP is leading in the Assam panchayat polls’ counting, which is underway across the state since Sunday morning amid tight security, officials said.
Panchayat elections took place in two phases on May 2 and May 7 in 27 districts for the first time after the delimitation of constituencies. The counting of votes for both phases is being held simultaneously since 8 am.
According to Assam State Election Commission (ASEC) data, the BJP has won six members of Anchalik Panchayat constituencies in Majuli district.
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“We have not got any other trends or results yet from the districts. Counting of panchayat votes is a very complex job with three ballot papers for each panchayat. It will continue till tomorrow night,” ASEC Commissioner Alok Kumar told PTI.
The total seats include 21,920 Gram Panchayat (GP) members with 10,883 seats reserved for women. Voting also happened for 2,192 Anchalik Panchayat (AP) members with 1,124 reserved for women and 397 Zilla Parishad (ZP) members with 199 seats reserved for women.
Sources said the BJP is leading in 355 AP seats and its ally AGP in 42 seats, while the Congress is ahead in 21 AP constituencies.
In the case of ZP, the saffron party is marching ahead in 35 and AGP in two. Congress is not leading in any ZP seat yet.
The GP members were not allowed to contest on party tickets and they were all independents.
As many as 2,912 candidates have won uncontested – 34 ZP members, 311 AP members and 2,567 GP ward members.
“The counting of ballot papers began in all the 39 centres across the state. The counting agents of candidates reached early in the morning for the exercise,” a senior official said.
In view of stray violence and disruptions during voting, the administration has arranged adequate security measures in all the counting centres to avoid any such situations, he said.
“There are thousands of seats in the election. We will try to complete the counting as soon as possible. However, we believe that it is likely to stretch till tomorrow,” the official said.
A total electorate of 1,80,36,682, comprising 90,71,264 men, 89,65,010 women and 408 others, were eligible to exercise their franchise in 25,007 polling stations.
According to official data, 74.71 per cent of the eligible voters exercised their franchise during the panchayat polls. (PTI)
