Guwahati, Apr 11 (PTI) The Assam government has declared a public holiday in the districts where panchayat polls will be held in two phases on May 2 and May 7.
All government and non-government offices, educational institutions and business establishments, including banks, tea gardens and others situated in the panchayat election area where polling will be held on these days will remain closed, under the Negotiable Instruments (NI) Act, according to a notification issued on Friday.
In the first phase of polling on May 2, there will be a holiday in the 14 districts of Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Charaideo, Sivasagar, Majuli, Jorhat, Golaghat, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Sonitpur, Biswanath, Cachar, Hailakandi and Sribhuni.
On May 7 in the second phase, there will be a public holiday in the 13 districts of Dhubri, South Salmara, Goalpara, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Bajali, Nalbari, Kamrup, Kamrup (Metro), Hojai, Nagaon, Morigaon and Darrang, it said.
Panchayat polls will be held in 27 of the 34 districts, while seven districts of the state are under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution where autonomous council polls are conducted.
A total electorate of 1,80,36,682, comprising 90,71,264 males, 89,65,010 females and 408 others, are eligible to exercise their franchise in 25,007 polling stations.
The total seats include 21,920 gram panchayat (GP) members with 10,883 seats for women, 2,192 GP presidents, including 1,097 reserved for women, 2,192 GP vice-presidents, 2,192 anchalik parishad (AP) members, 181 AP presidents, 181 AP vice presidents and 397 zilla parishad members, officials said.