GUWAHATI: The Lok Sabha elections in Assam will be held during the month-long celebration of Rongali Bihu, also called Bohag Bihu. When a delegation of the Election Commission visited Assam recently, the state’s BJP-led government had requested it to wind up the poll process in the state before Rongali Bihu which marks the beginning of the Assamese new year.
The month-long celebration 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.
Strife-torn Manipur and Tripura, which have two seats each, will go to polls in the first two phases. Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya (they too have two seats each), Nagaland, Mizoram and Sikkim (one seat each) will have one-phase polls on April 19. 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.”
‘Displaced people to vote from relief camps’
Strife-torn Manipur and Tripura, which have two seats each, will go to polls in the first two phases. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said people displaced by the ethnic violence in Manipur will be voting from their relief camps.