Guwahati: As Assam goes to the first phase of assembly polls on Saturday, a total of 375 companies of security personnel including both central and state armed police forces have been deployed in the state.
These companies include the Central Armed Police Force (CRPF), State Armed Police (SAP) of other states and Assam.
It is important to note that this is the first assembly polls in the state after the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was passed in Parliament.
For the three-phased elections, as many as 3,826 polling stations and 107 vulnerable hamlets have been identified in which extensive patrolling has been deployed.
In the run-up to the state polls, the state police have so far seized 12.79 crores rupees and liquors worth 2.29 crores rupees, the Assam police said.
Forty-seven constituencies across 12 districts are going to polls in the first phase, in which 264 candidates are in the fray. The first phase poll includes incumbent Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal Majuli constituency.
Key constituencies in focus:
Apart from the Sonowal’s Majuli constituency, Assam Assembly Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami is in the poll battle from Jorhat.
The fate of Assam Gana Parishad’s Atul Bora is also at stake. The AGP is in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Pary. Senior Congress leader Ripun Bora is trying his luck from the Gohpur seat. Lurinjyoti Gogoi, president of newly-floated regional political party Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) will contest from two seats– Duliajan and Naharkatia which will go to polls in the first phase.
The fate of jailed anti-CAA activist and chief of another newly-floated party Akhil Gogoi from Sibsagar will be decided in the first phase. Gogoi, a peasant leader, is in jail since December 2019 in connection with a National Investigation Agency (NIA) case for his role in the anti-CAA protests in Assam. He was arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Assam is scheduled to go to polls in three phases with polls due on March 27, April 1 and April 6 for the 126 constituencies across 33,530 polling stations covering more than 2.33 crore electors.