Counting on for Assam panchayat polls, BJP registers huge leads

Guwahati: The BJP is leading in all panchayat bodies across Assam with counting of votes continuing for the second day in a row amid tight security, officials said on Monday.

Panchayat elections took place in two phases on May 2 and 7 in Assam's 27 districts for the first time after the delimitation of the constituencies.

The counting of votes, cast by ballot papers, for both phases began at 8 am on Sunday.

According to Assam State Election Commission (ASEC) data, the BJP has won 242 members of Anchalik Panchayat constituencies, while its ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) has bagged 30 seats so far.

Opposition Congress has cornered 34 seats, one constituency each won by Raijor Dal and AIUDF and 14 by Independents.

In Zilla Parishad, the BJP has won 26 seats while its ally AGP emerged victorious in three. No other party has opened its account yet in ZP constituencies, the ASEC data showed.

Along with these, results for thousands of seats for Gram Panchayat (GP) have also been declared, but these are all Independents as candidates were not allowed to contest on party tickets.

"The counting has been continuing non-stop since yesterday morning. Different people and teams worked the whole night to declare the results. We are hopeful that the final result will be out by tomorrow," a senior ASEC official told PTI.

The counting of ballot papers is going on at all the 39 centres across the state, he added.

The total seats include 21,920 Gram Panchayat members with 10,883 seats reserved for women. Voting also happened for 2,192 Anchalik Panchayat members with 1,124 reserved for women and 397 Zilla Parishad members with 199 seats reserved for women.

As many as 2,912 candidates have won uncontested -– 34 Zilla Parishad members, 311 Anchalik Panchayat members and 2,567 GP ward members.

In view of some violence and disruptions during the voting, the administration has arranged adequate security measures in all the counting centres.

A total of 74.71 per cent of the 1,80,36,682 voters exercised their franchise in the two-phase panchayat polls.