Top Headlines

Assam Legislative Assembly preparing for presidential poll

Sentinel Digital Desk

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Assam Legislative Assembly (ALA) Secretariat has started preparation for the July 18, 2022, presidential election.

Apart from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs, MLAs also cast votes in the presidential poll. MPs vote in their respective Parliament Houses, and MLAs cast votes in State Legislative Assemblies. The presidential election this time will be a straight fight between NDA candidate Draupadi Murmu and Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has already appointed Assam Legislative Assembly Secretary Dulal Pegu and Joint Secretary Rajib Bhattacharjee as assistant returning officers (AROs) and trained them on the way to conduct the presidential election.

The presidential poll takes place on secret ballots. The Rajya Sabha Secretariat supplies the ballot boxes and other poll-related papers. A team from the Assam Legislative Assembly will receive the ballot boxes and other poll papers from the Rajya Sabha Secretariat on July 12 and keep them under safe custody in the Assam Assembly Secretariat. After the election, the State Assembly will give the ballot boxes to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat on July 19. The counting of votes will be on July 21, 2022.

The value of the votes of MLAs differs from state to state based on their population. The value of a vote of an MLA in Assam is 116.

Meanwhile, the Assam Assembly Secretariat has already sent a letter to all members of the House, requesting each of them to inform if s/he wants to vote in any other Assembly other than the Assam Legislative Assembly. The State AROs can allow this option to the MLAs based on the Election Commission of India's guidelines.

Also Watch: