On Saturday, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Sushil Chandra, reviewed the counting arrangements with senior EC officers and the CEOs of the four states and the UT at a virtual meeting on Saturday. He directed that all laid-down instructions of the EC must be adhered to. He also directed that the counting halls must be fully COVID guidelines compliant.
The commission has designated 822 returning officers and more than 7,000 assistant returning officers for the purpose of counting of votes in the four states. Nearly 95,000 counting officials, including micro-observers, will perform the task of counting. No candidates or their agents will be allowed inside the counting halls without a negative coronavirus report, according to the latest result-day guidelines issued by the EC.
Upper Assam is the biggest among all the three major regions in the state, with 56 Assembly seats. The electorate in 47 of these constituencies is voting on Saturday, March 27, in the first phase. The electoral outcome in this region is crucial in determining the fate of the next government in many ways.
First, this is the biggest region in Assam, accounting for nearly 44 per cent of the total Assembly seats in the state—whichever party has a decisive lead here would inch closer to forming the next government in the state. Second, this has been a stronghold of the ruling BJP since the last few elections, where the party (and its alliance partner/s) has not only increased its vote share but also widened the vote share gap with the main opposition party, the Congress (see chart below). Third, in pre-Covid Assam, this region saw a much intense protest, compared to rest of Assam, against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA. Many students and student unions had participated in protests; therefore, it would be interesting to see how people in this region vote.
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