Guwahati, April 7 (IANS) Over 49 percent of voters Monday cast their ballot in the first six hours of polling in five Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam, officials said.
Monday's polling kick-started the nine-phase 16th Lok Sabha polls in the country.
As balloting began from 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 delayed due to technical snags in the electronic voting machines (EVMs).
The overall polling percentage in the five constituencies was 49.64 percent till 1 p.m., Assam's chief electoral officer said.
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.
With 53.89 percent of polling, Tezpur recorded the highest voting so far among the five constituencies, followed by Kaliabor with 51.04 percent, Lakhimpur with 49.43 percent, Jorhat with 48.02 percent and Dibrugarh with 45.82 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.
An estimated 6.4 million people were eligible to vote Monday for the five seats, which have 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.
In the 45th match of IPL 2023, Lucknow Super Giants are taking on Chennai Super Kings. The match
Navratri 2022 Day 1: Today (Monday) is the first day of Sharadiya Navratri. Navratri started on 2
New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS) On a day when the BJP suffered a humiliating defeat in Delhi, only thr
The Congress party has reached the Supreme Court in support of the Places of Worship (Special Pro
9 in the morning to 5 in the evening ie 8 hours of work is considered normal, but it is not so fo
Due to Coronavirus, Reliance Jio has once again emerged as a support for customers in a difficult
Kohli cools Shakib: Bangladesh captain furious over no-ball, Virat hugged him when he came
Virat Kohli is the king in the world of cricket. Apart from his batting, there is one other thing
Anushka Sharma's Second Pregnancy: Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli are the power couple of B-Town.
Today Chandrababu Naidu will take oath as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. On Tuesday, TDP a
The wife of a BJP leader was killed in an encounter with the UP Police, who reached Uttarakhand w
