Repolling in 55 booths, spread over Cachar (15), Karimganj (37), Hailakandi (2) and Nalbari (1) districts, in the second phase of panchayat election in Assam will be held on Tuesday.

State election commissioner H.N. Bora on Monday said repolling had been ordered in 55 booths following reports of snatching and tearing of ballot papers and group clashes.

The overall turnout in the second phase on Sunday was 82.70 per cent, which will go up after Tuesday’s repolling. The second phase was held in Nalbari, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Dhubri, South Salmara, Goalpara, Cachar, Hailakandi, Karimganj and Hojai districts.

Bora said there was a turnout of 69.16 per cent in the repolling in 25 stations in Lakhimpur district for the first phase on Monday. It was held peacefully, he added. The first phase, held in 16 districts on December 5, had witnessed a turnout of 80.77 per cent.

H.N. Bora, state election commissioner. The Telegraph file picture

Counting of the votes for the two-phase elections will be held on December 12.

In Hailakandi district, on Sunday, around 2,000 employees and workers of Cachar Paper Mill and their descendants had abstained from voting in protest against the non-payment of salary and negligence of government regarding revival of the mill.

Karimganj district BJP president Subrata Bhattacharjee held the district administration responsible for the mismanagement, booth-capturing, beating up of officials during the second phase.

At least 15 persons, including block development officer Amjad Hussain who was designated as zonal magistrate, were injured during the poll-related violence in Karimganj.

A junior assistant of Dullavcherra BDO office, Anwar Hussain Mazumdar, was suspended after he was found responsible for error in printing ballot papers, Karimganj deputy commissioner Pradip Kumar Talukdar said.

While both BJP and the Opposition are confident of a good show, state BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass on Monday said they have already planned a Vijay Diwas to be held at Naharkatia in Dibrugarh district of Upper Assam on December 14.

The state BJP has also decided to launch its preparations for next year’s Lok Sabha polls, asserting that it will do better than the 2014 polls by winning 11 of the state’s 14 seats. Last time it had won seven seats.

The Congress was equally gung-ho. CLP leader Debabrata Saikia said they would emerge as the single largest party and also increase their vote share despite the campaign overdrive by the BJP.