Campaigning for first phase Panchayat polls ends in Assam; parties carry out intense campaigning across state

Campaigning for Assam’s most politically divided Panchayat polls comes to an end this afternoon with the BJP and its alliance partner Asom Gana Parishad not only battling each other but also engaged in an unprecedented war of words.

The opposition Congress and the AIUDF are the two other main political players in the fray but their campaign in the past few weeks have been overshadowed with the BJP and the AGP trading charges against each other.

The difference is over the AGP’s tough stand against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.

Things have reached such a pass that the BJP has accused the AGP of having a nexus with the Congress. The AGP has also hit back saying that the BJP, Congress and AIUDF have got together to target the regional party.

Meanwhile, security has been beefed up and a total of 1,40,000 civil employees and 1 lakh security personnel will be deployed for the Panchayat polls in Assam, which will be held in two phases on December 5 and December 9 in 26 districts and 14 civil sub-divisions.