Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Wednesday said the Assam Assembly polls will be held keeping in mind the Rongali Bihu festival and the process will be finished before the CBSE Board exams beginning on May four.
The Commission is sensitive towards festivals held in the various States “and we have already taken into consideration this before coming here for the review meetings”, the CEC told reporters here.
The political parties during interaction with the full bench of the poll panel had made a plea to keep in view the Bihu festival while deciding the poll schedule to encourage more voter turnout and also to ensure that the monsoon, which usually arrives early in the State, is avoided.
Rongali Bihu, also known as Bohag Bihu, is celebrated by the people of Assam to mark the Assamese New Year. It is usually observed in the second week of April with the onset of spring.
“The Bihu festival dates will be taken into cognisance and factored in while drawing up the schedule of election dates accordingly”, Mr. Arora added.
The commission had meetings with Central Board of Secondary Education officials to decide on the poll schedule framework and “we have decided that the election process will be finished before the Board exams begin on May four”, he said.
The term of 126-member Assam house is ending on May 31, 2021.
The political parties had also impressed upon the commission to hold the elections with strict COVID-19 protocols and this will be adhered to strictly with the number of auxilliary polling booths increased in the State, Mr. Arora said.
The maximum number of electors at a polling station has been reduced from 1500 to 1000, he said.
Accordingly for Assam, the number of polling stations would go up by about 5,000 and likely to be more than 33,000 for the forthcoming elections, the CEC added.
