Centralised counting of votes for Sonai & Lakhipur to take place in Silchar: DC Jalli

Feb. 15: Along with the rest of the state, Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) will be used during the Municipal elections in Cachar district. After the polls, the EVM machines from Lakhipur and Sonai will be brought to Silchar and counting of votes will take place at any specific place in Silchar. Tuesday was the last day for submission of nomination. As of 3 PM on 15 February, a total of 35 candidates had filed nominations in 11 wards of Sonai and 28 candidates had filed nominations for 10 wards of Lakhipur. Of these, only one candidate has filed nomination in Ward No. 8 of Sonai, but there too, election will take place as there is the option of NOTA. This was stated by Keerthi Jalli, Deputy Commissioner, Cachar on Tuesday.

DC Jalli along with Returning Officer Navanita Hazarika held a press conference on Tuesday afternoon and presented various information about the municipal elections to be held in the district. Earlier, State Election Commission has announced the schedule for elections to 80 Municipal Boards of Assam today. Elections will be held on 6 March, 2022 and results will be declared on 9 March, 2022.  Assam State Election Commissioner Alok Kumar stated that it is for the first time in the history of Assam that M2 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be used during the Municipal elections.

Keerthi Jalli and Nabanita Hazarika informed that after the nomination process gets over on Tuesday, these will be scrutinized till 17 February. Candidates whose names will feature in the valid list may withdraw their names till 3 pm on February 20. After this the final list of candidates will be published. Complete security measures have been put in place and several steps are being taken to make the voters aware. They further informed that unlike the Assembly elections, there will be no special polling station or women’s polling station this time. The counting of votes will take place in Silchar. But the exact location has not yet been ascertained. Additional security measures will be put in place as there were several unpleasant incidents in the Sonai constituency during the last Assembly elections.

DC Jalli informed that there will be 15 polling stations under Sonai Municipality, which may increase depending on the number of voters. The number of voters is 14,580, of which 7,336 are male and 7,245 are female. The number of voters in Lakhipur are 9,791, of which 4,885 are male, 4,906 are female and 12 are specially abled voters.

Election Officer Navanita Hazarika said that the Election Commission has organized an voters awareness campaign. These include the opportunity to compete in the categories like quiz, slogan, poster, video etc. There is a chance to win a prize money of Rs.1 lakh in the case of educational institutions and Rs,50,000 in the case of individuals.