Guwahati, May 5 (PTI) Campaigning for the second and final phase of panchayat elections in Assam ended on Monday, as ruling and opposition parties wooed rural voters with the promise of all-round development.

Polling will be held in 13 districts of central and lower Assam in 12,130 polling stations on May 7.

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Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma led the campaign for the BJP and its allies, addressing back-to-back rallies during campaigning. Sarma dwelt on various schemes taken up by his government since he assumed power four years back, with focus on initiatives for women, youth and the marginalised sections.

He maintained that schemes for free education and the state government's tough stance against social ills like child marriage and drug abuse have been yielding positive results.

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Sarma also slammed the previous Congress governments in his campaign speeches, accusing the grand old party of trying to appease the voters with “lungi, dhoti, suta (yarn), blanket and mosquito nets” without actually empowering them.

Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal and state BJP president Dilip Saikia, among other leaders, also campaigned for the ruling alliance.

The Congress hit back with allegations that the BJP-led government has failed to address core issues like unemployment and price rise.

Leader of opposition Debabrata Saikia, participating in different campaign meetings, asserted that people are faced with problems of unemployment, inflation and insecurity.

He alleged that Sarma was taking recourse to various gimmicks and trying to divert attention from the dispensation's failures, while promising commitment for development of rural areas if the Congress wins the panchayat polls.

Other Congress leaders, including deputy leader in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi and state president Bhupen Kumar Borah, also took part in the campaigning.

In the second phase, polling will be held at Dhubri, South Salmara-Mankachar, Goalpara, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Bajali, Nalbari, Kamrup, Kamrup(Metro), Hojai, Nagaon, Morigaon and Darrang districts.

Polling will be held from 7.30 am to 4.30 pm and repoll, if any, on May 9, officials said.

The counting of votes for both phases will be held simultaneously on May 11.

The total number of voters for the second phase is 91,31,127, comprising 46,30,924 males, 44,99,952 females and 251 others. Altogether, 29,608 candidates are in the fray.

The number of Zila Parishad (ZP) constituencies stands at 181, Anchalik Parishads (AP) at 87 and Gaon Panchayat (GP) constituencies at 10,530.

As many as 1,289 canddiates have won uncontested – 21 ZP members, 151 AP members and 1,117 GP ward members, the officials said.

Polling in the first phase was conducted in 14 districts of Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Charaideo, Sivasagar, Majuli, Jorhat, Golaghat, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Sonitpur, Biswanath, Cachar, Hailakandi and Sribhumi.

The rural body polls are not held in seven districts of the state, which are under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and have autonomous council polls.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)