Assam Panchayat Polls Likely to be Held in Two Phases

Assam’s Panchayat and Rural Development (P&RD) Minister Ranjeet Kumar Dass has hinted that the upcoming panchayat elections in the state may be conducted in two phases.

As per reports, the minister revealed that the election notification is expected to be issued in the first part of January 2025, following the publication of the final electoral roll on December 28, 2024. The Assam State Election Commission (SEC) will oversee the elections, Dass said.

The state’s election preparations are well underway, with the draft electoral roll already published. He said, "The draft electoral roll for the panchayat poll has already been published, and the publication of the final electoral roll will be on December 28, 2024."

According to Ranjeet Kumar Dass, due to the scale of the panchayat election, which covers 2,193 gaon panchayats, 181 Anchalik Panchayats, and 393 Zila Parishad constituencies, it may be conducted in two phases. Dass further explained that the government aims to avoid any overlap between the election dates and major conferences like the Asom Sahitya Sabha’s biennial conference (January 31 to February 4, 2025) and Srimanta Sankardev Sangha’s conference (February 6 to 9, 2025), both of which will involve large gatherings.

"Since these two conferences are big ones involving large congregations, the government’s view is not to make the dates of the poll and these two events clash," he added.

The draft electoral roll lists 1,75,54,589 electors in the state. The finalization of the electoral process will follow shortly after the completion of the final roll.