Guwahati: Assam’s Silchar is holding its first municipal corporation election on Saturday, October 3, after the town’s municipal board was upgraded to a corporation.
The civic body has 42 wards, but voters are choosing representatives in 40 of them as BJP candidates secured the other two seats without a contest.
Polling opened at 7 am, with about 2.7 lakh people eligible to vote in the election.
The 40 contested wards have 131 candidates, while 303 polling stations have been set up for voters across the corporation area.
The district administration has put security and law-and-order arrangements in place at the polling locations. Steps have also been taken to ensure that voting takes place without disruption.
For Silchar, the election marks the first time residents are electing members of the newly created municipal corporation.
The election will establish the corporation’s first set of elected members and introduce the new civic system in Silchar, a key town in the Barak Valley.