Guwahati, Nov 22: Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the counting of votes for the by-elections in the five assembly seats in Assam on Saturday, officials said.
The counting of votes will start at 8 am in Dholai, Samaguri, Behali, Bongaigaon and Sidli constituencies to decide the fate of 34 candidates, they said.
The counting of votes for the Dholai seat will be held at the Inter-State Truck Terminal in Ramnagar. The counting for the Sidli seat will be held at the district centre in Kajalgaon, while the counting for Bongaigaon will be held at Bongaigaon College.
In Behali and Samaguri, the counting will be held at the district commissioner’s offices.
All preparations for the counting of votes have been completed, officials said on Friday evening.
The bypolls were held as these seats fell vacant following the election of their MLAs to the Lok Sabha.
The campaigning in Samaguri was marked by sporadic incidents of violence and clashes between BJP and Congress supporters.
The seat was vacated by former Congress minister Rakibul Hussain who won the Dhubri Lok Sabha seat by a record margin of over 10 lakh votes. The Congress fielded his son Tanzil Hussain in the seat against BJP’s Diplu Ranjan Sarma.
The BJP contested Behali, Samaguri and Dholai, while its allies AGP and UPPL fielded candidates in Bongaigaon and Sidli, respectively.
The Congress is contesting in all the five constituencies.
A voter turnout of 75.67 per cent was recorded in the by-elections.(PTI)
