Guwahati Apr 22 PTI Polling for Guwahati Municipal Corporation GMC being held after a gap of nine years began on a brisk note on Friday morningPeople queued up in front of the polling stations under a clear sky to elect their new councillorsAltogether 197 candidates are in the fray in 57 wards while BJP candidates in three wards have already been elected uncontestedElectronic Voting Machines EVMs are being used for all the wards under the GMC for the first timeA total electorate of 796829 comprising 396891 males 399911 females and 27 of the third gender is eligible to exercise their franchiseThe counting of votes will be undertaken on April 24Political parties had gone all out to woo the voters promising a flood-free and crime-free city with piped water to all households and all other basic civic amenities in the run up to the pollsChief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma led the BJPs election campaign addressing multiple rallies across the city while the saffron partys coalition partner at Dispur Asom Gana Parishads AGP campaign was helmed by Agriculture Minister and party president Atul BoraThe BJP has fielded candidates in 53 wards while AGP is contesting in the remaining sevenAssam Pradesh Congress Committee chief Bhupen Borah led the states main Opposition party on its campaign trailThe Congress has put up candidates in 54 wardsThe other parties were also not to be left behind with Aam Aadmi Party bringing in its Delhi MLA Atishi Marlena to woo voters while Assam Jatiya Parishad had its chief Lurinjyoti Gogoi leading the campaignBesides door-to-door canvassing and rallies the parties took out car and bike rallies through the streets of the city with the campaign reaching its crescendo on Wednesday when the campaign endedThe notification for elections to the 60 wards of GMC was issued on March 23 and the model code of conduct came into force with immediate effect PTI SSG SSG RG RG

Guwahati (Assam) [India], February 22 (ANI): The sleuths of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption cell of Assam police on Tuesday caught red-handed an employee of the health department while was he was allegedly accepting a bribe.

Guwahati Aug 24 PTI Assam Congress chief Bhupen Borah has met Raijor Dal supremo Akhil Gogoi to evaluate possibilities of jointly fighting the assembly bypolls likely to be held by the end of this year However the late-night deliberations at Sivasagar on Monday remained inconclusive and both parties vowed to carry forward the discussions in the coming days It was just a courtesy meeting as I am in his Gogois constituency for our party meetingwe both are against the BJPs divisive policies We discussed how we will fight the saffron camp in future Borah told reporters He appreciated Gogoi an Independent MLA from Sivasagar for joining hands with the Congress inside the Assembly to raise voice against the anti-people decisions of the state government Earlier we had tried to be united against the BJP and we will try again in future Borah said without elaborating On the other hand Gogoi said that the two anti-BJP parties should unite for a long term instead of a shorter period We discussed how to defeat the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and how to form a government in Assam after the 2026 Assembly elections We also evaluated options regarding the bypolls but nothing has been decided yet he said This was the second round of meetings between top leaders of the two parties On August 8 Congress working presidents Rana Goswami and Jakir Hussain Sikdar had visited the Raijor Dals headquarters in Guwahati to meet Gogoi and other senior leaders On August 16 another opposition party Assam Jatiya Parishads vice presidents Shamsher Singh and Kamal Nayan Choudhury had met Borah and discussed a proposal to put up common candidates against the BJP-led alliance in the Assembly bypolls AJP and Raijor Dal had formed a Regional Alliance which was not part of the Congress-led Grand Alliance in the assembly election this year The Raijor Dal won one seat while AJP drew a blank Before the assembly polls both the groupings had called for establishing a united platform of all opposition parties but the Regional Alliance had shied away from joining the Grand Alliance due to the presence of All India United Democratic Front AIUDF in it The Congress which was in power for 15 years in Assam since 2001 formed the Grand Alliance with AIUDF BPF CPIM CPI CPIML Anchalik Gana Morcha AGM RJD Adivasi National Party ANP and Jimochayan Deori Peoples Party JPP In the 126-member Assam Assembly the BJP bagged 60 seats while its allies AGP won nine and UPPL six In the opposition camp the Congress won 29 AIUDF 16 BPF four and CPIM cornered one seat Raijor Dal won one seat as an Independent As per the seat arrangements of assembly at present byelections will take place in five seats One MLA each of United Peoples Party Liberal UPPL and Bodoland Peoples Front BPF has died while two Congress legislators have resigned to join the BJP Former chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal who joined the Union Cabinet as a minister is yet to submit his resignation paper in the assembly but is likely to do so in the coming days PTI TR ACD ACD