Deori council polls in 7 upper Assam dists today

Guwahati: The Deori-inhabited areas scattered over seven districts of upper Assam will go to polls on Tuesday to elect a new autonomous council with the ruling BJP looking to extend its undefeated winning run in every election since its rise in the state in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
According to the Assam State Election Commission (ASEC), which conducts the autonomous council election, there are 75 candidates in fray for the 22 seats —18 from BJP, 14 from Congress, seven from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), four from AGP, two from Raijor Dal and one from Assam Jatiya Parishad and 29 Independents.
The counting of votes will take place on November 10, the poll panel said.
The autonomous council for Deoris, a Scheduled Tribe (plains) community with an estimated population of about two lakh, was set up in 2005 by the then Congress government.
The community is scattered in small settlements in Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Sonitpur, Jorhat, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia and the council has been formed on a satellite pattern to cover the scattered population for their social, economic, educational, ethnic and cultural advancement.
Until the 2016 election, the Deori Autonomous Council consisted of 18 elected members and two nominated by the state government. In 2021, the Deori Autonomous Council Act was amended to increase the number of elected members to 22 and the number of nominated members to four. In 2016, BJP won seven of the 18 seats. The total number of voters in 22 constituencies spread across six districts and four subdivisions is 43,595, including 21,412 men and 22,183 women.