Guwahati, April 7 (IANS) Over 63 percent voters cast their ballot till 3 p.m. Monday in five Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam, officials said. The final polling percentage may be over 70 percent as some people in some polling centres are yet to vote.
Monday's polling kick-started the nine-phase 16th Lok Sabha polls in the country.
As balloting began at 7 a.m., people queued up at polling stations in the state's five constituencies - Tezpur, Jorhat, Kaliabor, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur. Brisk polling was seen, barring a few booths where the process was briefly delayed due to technical snags in the electronic voting machines (EVMs).
The overall polling percentage in the five constituencies was 63.37 percent till 3 p.m., Assam's chief electoral officer Vijayendra said.
Although balloting officially ends at 5 p.m., polling officials in each booth have to wait till the last man in the queue casts his vote.
While 12 percent polling was recorded in the first two hours till 9 a.m., it went up to 36.44 percent by 11 a.m. By 1 pm the polling percentage went up to over 49 percent, the officials said.
With 65.59 percent polling, Kaliabor recorded the highest voting till 3 p.m. among the five constituencies, followed by Tezpur with 64.8 percent, Lakhimpur with 64.03 percent, Jorhat with 61.92 percent and Dibrugarh with 60.50 percent, the electoral office said.
Polling was peaceful in all the five constituencies, even as the day coincided with the 'Raising Day' of insurgent outfit United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).
Although there were no direct threats by the militants this time, police and security forces were deployed in strength to ensure smooth polling.
"There were reports of malfunctioning of some EVMs. We replaced 42 EVMs in different polling stations. So far, polling has been peaceful and there were no reports of any major problem from anywhere," Vijayendra said.
"The polling percentage is likely to increase as there are still long queues in some of the polling stations. We will give tokens to people still waiting in the queues and they can vote. However, no one will be allowed to stand in the queue after 5 p.m.," he said.
An estimated 6.4 million people were eligible to vote Monday for the five seats, for which there are a total of 51 candidates in the fray.
The second phase of polling will be held April 12 in three of the state's total 14 constituencies - Silchar, Karimganj and Diphu (autonomous district).
The third phase will be held April 24 in the remaining six constituencies - Gauhati, Barpeta, Nowgong, Dhubri, Kokrajhar and Mangaldai.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi's son Gourav Gogoi, outgoing Congress MP Bijoy Krishna Handique, BJP state president Sarbananda Sonowal and union ministers Ranee Narah and Paban Singh Ghatowar are among Monday's prominent aspirants.
David Warner Big Record: The second Test match of the three-match Test series between Pakistan an
Balloting picks up in Madhya Pradesh (Second Lead)
Bhopal, April 10 (IANS) Voting picked up in Madhya Pradesh's nine Lok Sabha constituencies as th
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath held a meeting with top officials in the capital Luc
All corona restrictions were removed before festivals in Maharashtra, the meeting also held in Delhi
The corona epidemic in the country is not over yet, but for the last several weeks, the corona ca
Amazon Layoffs: News of layoffs in Amazon, Ministry of Labor called the company's office to answer
E-commerce giant Amazon is preparing for massive layoffs globally. This process of retrenchment c
The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to hear the petition immediately, which challenged the noti
Shoaib Akhtar has already made this prediction regarding the India-Pakistan T20 World Cup match
Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has already predicted India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup m
Pakistan is upset with Akshay Kumar's recent release 'Sooryavanshi'. Be it President Arif Alvi or
'If we are attacked, Pakistan will launch a nuclear attack on Israel', Iran's big claim amid tension
The tension between Iran and Israel is continuously increasing. Both countries are firing missile
Ruckus in Jammu and Kashmir assembly over terror attacks
Jammu, March 22 (IANS) Confusion and noise marred the budget session proceedings of the Jammu a
