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.
Avatar The Way Of Water OTT Release Date: If you are fond of James Cameron's films and are waitin
Kejriwal, Naidu Discuss Delhi's Development
New Delhi, Feb 11 (IANS) Delhi Chief minister-designate Arvind Kejriwal Wednesday met Urban Dev
For the first time in the country, a new sub-variant of the corona new variant Omicron has been d
In the 2020 IPL, Rahul Tewatia's bat, who came into the limelight by hitting five consecutive six
Mumbai, April 10 (IANS) The first phase of elections in Maharashtra for 10 Lok Sabha seats got
Uddhav Thackeray has to resign from the post of CM. Eknath Shinde's lawyer raised questions in SC
Did Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray make a mistake by resigning from the post of CM? Eknath Shin
Pained at Indian bans on exhibitions, cultural troupes: Pakistani envoy
Kolkata, March 17 (IANS) Asserting people of Pakistan want to have a "normal relationship" with
Brisk polling in Varanasi, row over Congress candidate
Varanasi, May 12 (IANS) Tens of thousands Monday voted in brisk polling in Varanasi, where AAP
The responsibility of the Uttar Pradesh Teacher Eligibility Test (UP-TET) paper leak case has fal
The concern of many countries has now increased regarding the alleged Ukrainian missile that fell
