Parties in Assam gear up for ensuing Panchayat poll

GUWAHATI: The recent announcement made by State Election Commissioner HN Bora on panchayat poll schedule in the State has kept the political parties on their toes. All the major political parties in the State have been engaged in a rat race for winning maximum seats in the forthcoming rural poll.

The AGP has decided to go it alone in the panchayat poll. The central committee of the regional party is going to meet on October 31, 2018 for discussing all issues relating to the panchayat poll. The crucial meeting is to be attended by all office-bearers and central committee members of the party, besides its district committee presidents and general secretaries.

The Congress is also not lagging behind in its preparations for the panchayat poll. The party is seeking applications from willing candidates who have not yet applied for candidatures as yet. The national party is going to receive applications seeking candidatures till November 5, 2018. On November 3 each of the block Congress committees is to form a seven-member election committee.

The BJP is much ahead of other parties in its preparations for the rural poll. The ruling party in the State already has an election committee for the panchayat poll being led by minister Naba Kumar Doley. Since the appointment of page in-charges is a continuous process for the party in the State, the drive is being used as panchayat poll campaign as well. The party has also started seeking candidates’ lists from mandal committees to be submitted to their respective district committees. Even as the BJP maintains that it will go solo in the rural poll, the party is yet to take any decision if it will go for a seat-sharing understanding with the AGP in legislative Assembly constituencies where it has no representation.

In a recent statement, State SEC HN Bora made it clear that the panchayat poll would be conducted in the State by December 15, 2018 and the poll notification would be issued in the first week of November. The SEC, however, stopped short of making the exact date of panchayat poll public. He had a meeting with the Home, P&RD and the Education departments. He is now going to hold such a meeting with the deputy commissioners and the superintendents of police before making the exact poll schedule public.