GUWAHATI, Oct 29 - The State election commission is planning to hold the panchayat polls in Assam in the first half of December.
According to the tentative plan, the exercise would be completed by December 15, election commission sources told this newspaper.
�The polls would be a two-phase exercise and the entire process, including counting, would be completed within a week�s time. A notification for the polls is likely to be issued in the first week of November,� the sources said.
The State election commission has held meetings with the police top brass and discussed security issues related to the polls, following which the decision to hold the polls in two phases was taken.
The panchayat elections in the State were due in March, 2018, but it was delayed because the government could not spare officials due to their engagement in the NRC update exercise.
The election commission would require around 1.4 lakh personnel to conduct the polls.
The election commission also had meetings with officials of the education department and schools have been asked to reschedule their annual exams after December 15 � that is after completion of the polls.
This time the rural polls would be held according to the Assam Panchayat (Amendment) Act, 2018 that lays down two norms for contesting the polls � one on number of children and another regarding qualification of the candidate.
A person having more than two living children (if the third child is born after commencement of the Act) cannot contest the polls. The amendment had come into force on March 19 this year.
For general candidates, the educational qualification to contest the polls for gaon panchayat member is Class VI pass, for gaon panchayat president and anchalik panchayat member it is Class X pass and for zila parishad member it is Class XII pass.
The last polls to the local bodies were held between December, 2012 and February, 2013.
