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.
'Middle East's current problems started from the 1967 war'
New Delhi, Feb 24 (IANS) Wracked by insurrection and terrorism, the Middle East is going throug
ISRO New Rocket Launch Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has today launched the second ve
Cabinet Meeting: Shopping on GeM portal crosses one lakh crore rupees, small businessmen benefit
After the cabinet meeting held on Wednesday, Union Minister Anurag Thakur shared information abou
Gadar 2: Sunny Deol's outspoken words on Pakistan-India relationship, told- political game
Gadar 2: Sunny Deol is soon gearing up to create a mutiny on the screen. The actor is reuniting w
BJP hails rail budget, Congress questions resource availability
New Delhi, Feb 26 (IANS) The ruling BJP hailed Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu's budget for 2015
A cloudburst over Lhonak Lake in North Sikkim caused a flash flood in the Teesta River basin on W
New Delhi: Amid growing tension between India and China (India-China) in Ladakh, the army of both
Not only the people of Ukraine, but the Russian people are also paying the price for the war betw
Many countries of the world including India had imposed strict lockdown at different times becaus
81 swine flu deaths in Madhya Pradesh in 2015
Bhopal, Feb 18 (IANS) As many as 81 people have died of swine flu in Madhya Pradesh this year, a
