North Cachar Hills polls on Nov 26, Dec 1

Election to the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council, which was earlier called off amid a violent campaign...

Election to the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council NCHAC, which was earlier called off amid a violent campaign when armed militants gunned down two candidates including the Chief Executive Member CEM, is now slated for November 26 and December 1, with the state Government deploying a large number of security personnel to ensure peace.

While electioneering has remained a low-key affair due to renewed violence, the Congress is facing a tough challenge from the BJP which has tied up with the Autonomous State Demand Committee ASDC and launched a campaign against the alleged corruption and underdevelopment in the area. North Cachar Hills is one of the two hill districts of Assam that has autonomous councils under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.

Meanwhile, the Dimasa Students Association has accused political parties of patronising and using different militant groups to scrape through the elections. While senior Congress leader and former NCHAC Chief Executive Member Purnendu Langthasa was gunned down by Black Widow militants on June 10, following which the election was put off, it was only recently that another Congress candidate, Darbiekthoum Hmar, was killed in a militant attack.

Black Widow militants had earlier this month killed seven CRPF jawans in an ambush. The killing, together with the two incidents in which three Congress candidates were murdered, have forced the parties to go for a low-key campaign.

As many as 78 candidates are contesting the 27 seats of the Autonomous Council. While the Congress has put up 27 candidates, the ASDC and BJP are putting up 17 and 10 candidates, respectively. There are 24 independents too.

The most prominent candidate in the fray is Gobinda Chandra Langthasa, a veteran Congress MLA, who is contesting from the Haflong seat which was earlier represented by Purnendu Langthasa, his eldest son. 8220;The Congress is going to sweep the council elections. We are going to win all the seats,8221; Langthasa said from Haflong on Thursday.