Guwahati, Oct 19: A total of 7,96,456 voters are eligible to decide the fate of 31 candidates in the by-elections to five assembly seats in Assam on October 30, an official release said on Tuesday.
Of the total electorate, 4,03,374 are males, 3,93,078 females and four are transgender. There are a total of 3,165 service voters, while 8,864 electors are aged above 80 and 4,998 are People with Disability (PwD), the CEO release said. By-elections to the Gossaigaon, Bhabanipur, Tamulpur, Mariani and Thowra constituencies will be held on October 30.
The counting of votes will be taken up on November 2 and the entire polling process will be over by November 5. A total of 43,229 voters were added to the electoral roll after revision. Tamulpur has the highest number of electors at 2,17,432, while Thowra has the lowest at 1,15,971. The Election Commission of India has banned exit polls related to the by-elections and the CEO's office urged everyone to abide by the ECI guidelines.
By-elections in Gossaigaon and Tamulpur were necessitated following the deaths of sitting MLAs, while the incumbents of Bhabanipur, Mariani and Thowra resigned from their seats and joined the ruling BJP. UPPL had won the Gossaigaon seat in this year's assembly election, while BPF had bagged Tamulpur. The Congress had won Mariani and Thowra, while Bhabanipur was cornered by the AIUDF.
In the 126-member House, the BJP has 59 legislators, while its allies Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People's Party Liberal (UPPL) have nine and five MLAs respectively. The Congress has 27 MLAs, AIUDF 15, Bodoland People's Front three and CPI(M) one MLA, while there is also an Independent legislator.
Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal has vacated his seat following his recent nomination to the Rajya Sabha but the ECI has not yet announced a by-election to his Majuli seat.
