Dr. Surjya Hazarika was elected as the new President of Asam Sahitya Sabha on Saturday.

Dr. Hazarika will take over at the next Narayanpur session.

Counting of votes was held in Nalbari where he received 335 votes against 734 votes defeating prominent writer Yeshe Sorjee Thongchi.

He was a Padma Shri Awardee, who received the award for Literature and Education in 2008 by the then President of India Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil.

On the other hand Girij Handique has been elected as the Vice President of Sahitya Sabha by receiving 342 votes against 734 votes and Upendrajit Sarma has been elected as the General Secretary by receiving 315 votes against 734 votes.

Earlier today, the Election Officer Harendra Nath Borah said that there were 734 ballots in the ballot boxes of Asam Sahitya Sabha.

At least nine ballot papers were submitted after the due date which was later decided to be cancelled as it was submitted after the stipulated time.

It may be noted that the election process for the post of President, Vice President and General Secretary had begun on October 26 where at least 18 people from Jorhat headquarters filed nomination for the three posts.

The nominations were accepted till October 27 and the polling started from November 2-13.