FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
MORIGAON, Aug 19: Around 80 per cent voters cast their votes today in elections to the Tiwa Autonomous Council (TAC) in Morigaon district.
Voting was peaceful and there were no reports of any untoward incidents from anywhere in the district.
“The elections remained peaceful throughout the day. We recorded over 80 percent polling in the district,” official sources said.
Polling started at 8 a.m. across all 19 constituencies in the district and came to an end at 5 pm.
A total of 19 candidates contested the polls for the 19 constituencies in the district under the council.
It may be mentioned that election to 30 of the 36 constituencies of the Tiwa Autonomous Council have been held in gaon and Morigaon districts in central Assam.
The remaining six constituencies are in Kamrup (metro) district where the commission has decided not to hold elections because of protest from the Amri Karbi community.
This is the second election for the council. The first one was held in 2010.
In 2010 too, elections were not held in the six constituencies in Kamrup (metro) - No. 26 Dimoria, No. 32 Digaru, No. 33 Khetri, No. 34 Sopur, No. 35 Ampri and No. 36 Phong-Ari- because of protest from the Amri Karbis.
The Amri Karbis, who have also been demanding a separate autonomous council, do not want themselves to be included in the Tiwa Autonomous Council arguing that while they constitute majority of the total population of the area, Tiwa population is only around 6 per cent. In gaon the elections were held in 98 polling stations. gaon has 81,390 voters (39,306 female).