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.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said that to reduce inflation, the central banks of the world have i
Personnel of the National Disaster Response Force, who arrived to assist in rescue operations fol
The Israeli army on Tuesday warned its citizens that missiles have been fired from Iran (Israel-I
On Monday, the police and administration swung into action after getting information about a clos
Bharti Singh and Harsh Limbachiyaa have already fought over the future of the child, see who won?
Bharti Singh is going to become a mother soon. Her delivery date is in April, currently, she is e
Agra upset as Noida chosen for tourism varsity
Agra, March 24 (IANS) The decision to establish the national tourism university in Noida on the
G20 Summit 2023: Xi Jinping will not attend the G20 summit, this leader will represent China
G20 Summit: Chinese President Xi Jinping will not attend the G20 Summit to be held in India (G20
Hyderabad Police has summoned 'Pushpa 2' actor Allu Arjun for questioning in the theater stampede
Even on Monday, farmer leaders were busy meeting throughout the day at the Shambhu border and mak
Sonu Sood, the star of Bollywood and South films, came forward as a messiah for the needy during
