DC Cachar holds all-party meeting ahead of Municipal Board election

Feb. 11: Following notification of Municipal election ,2022 and with a view to conduct free and fair civic body poll in Sonai and Lakhipur Municipal Board ,Cachar Administration held a meeting of political parties at the conference hall of Deputy Commissioner’s office here in Silchar on Thursday. The meeting was presided over by the Deputy Commissioner Cachar, Keerthi Jalli. The meeting was also attended by Magistrate, Sonai Municipality Board Election, 2022, Bikash Chetri.

At the outset, DC Cachar, Keerthi Jalli welcomed representatives of all political parties and sought their cooperation on conducting free and fair civic body poll in Sonai and Lakhipur Municipal Boards. While speaking on the occasion DC , Keerthi Jalli said, “For the first time, polling will be conducted via Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) in the civic body polls in Assam”. She also discussed at length about the various aspects of civic body poll and explained the guidelines of model code of conduct (MCC), which has already been imposed in both Sonai and Lakhipur municipality areas.

Highlighting the key points of model code of conduct, DC Jalli stated that Model code of conduct is a guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India for conduct of political parties and candidates during election. During the discussion DC Jalli also informed that as per instruction received from State Election Commissioner, poll at Sonai and Lakhipur will be held on 6 March, 2022 and the voters can cast their votes from 8 am to 4 pm on the date of poll at their respective polling stations.

Candidates can file their nominations till February 15. Submission of nominations have started from 9 February. The contesting candidates for Sonai can file their nomination at Sonai Municipal Board and candidates of Lakhipur can file their nominations at the office of the Sub-Divisional Officer (Civil) Lakhipur / Office of the Circle Officer, revenue circle, Lakhipur, Cachar between 11 am to 3 pm.

The nomination papers for Sonai Municipal Board will be scrutinized on 17 February between 10 am to 4 pm at Sonai Municipal Board and scrutiny for Lakhipur Municipal Board will be held at the Office of the Sub -Divisional Officer (Civil) Lakhipur/ Office of the Circle Officer, revenue Circle, Lakhipur, Cachar. Also, on the same day, the list of valid candidates will be published soon after the scrutiny process. DC Jalli further informed that last date of withdrawal of nomination is 20 February between 11 am to 3 pm and the list of contesting candidates will be published on the same day.

It is pertinent to mention that there are 11 wards in Sonai Municipal Board. Out of 11 wards,3 are reserved for SC, number 04 is reserved for SC (women) and ward number 05, 06, 09 & 11 are reserved for women. The total number of voters in Sonai is 14,580 ,out of which 7,335 are male voters and 7,245 are female voters. There is no PWD voters in Sonai. There will be 15 polling stations under Sonai Municipal Board, where voters will cast their votes on 6 March, 2022.

On the other hand, there are a total of 9,791 voters under Lakhipur Municipal Board, out of which, 4,885 are male and 4,906 are female and number of PWD voters are 12. There are 10 wards under Lakhipur Municipal Board with 12 number of polling stations where voters will cast their votes on poll day. There is no reservation for SC, ST and SC (women). Ward number 01, 03, 04, 07 and 10 are reserved for women.