GUWAHATI: The Lok Sabha elections in Assam is set to be held during the month-long celebration of Rongali Bihu which begins on April 13.
Assam has 14 seats and the polls will be held in the first three phases – April 19, 26 and May 7.
The strife-torn Manipur and Tripura (two Lok Sabha seats each) will go for polls in the first two phases.
Meanwhile, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya (also comprising of two seats each), Nagaland, Mizoram and Sikkim (one seat each) will have one-phase polls on April 19.
Earlier, when an team from the Election Commission had visited Assam, the state's BJP-led government requested it to wind up the poll process in the state before Rongali Bihu which marks the beginning of the Assamese new year.
Manipur: Displaced people to vote from relief camps
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said people displaced by the ethnic violence in Manipur would vote from their relief camps.
“We have drawn a scheme which we have notified. We notified the scheme to allow voters in the camps to vote from their respective camps,” Kumar said.
“My appeal to the voters is let’s decide through the ballot, peacefully, by participating in the elections. We will make the arrangements,” he added.
The ethnic violence between Meiteis and Kukis displaced over 60,000 people. They are lodged in various relief camps in the state. Several thousand others are taking shelter in adjoining Mizoram.
Chief Minister N Biren Singh wrote on X, “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.”
Simultaneous Lok Sabha, and Assembly elections in Arunachal
Lok Sabha and Assembly elections will be held simultaneously in the frontier state of Arunachal on April 19. The state has 60 Assembly seats.
In the 2019 polls, BJP bagged 41 seats, followed by Janata Dal(United) seven, National People’s Party five, Congress four and People’s Party of Arunachal one. Two seats went to independents.