Assam sees 25 percent voting till 10 am in Lok Sabha polls

Guwahati: Over 25 percent of the 64,41,634 voters exercised their franchise during the first three hours of polling to decide the fate of 51 candidates in five Lok Sabha seats in Assam amid tight security today. With polling beginning at 7 AM, Tezpur recorded 20 percent, Jorhat 22 percent, Lakhimpur 25 percent, Dibrugarh 20 percent and Kaliabor 30 percent votes till 10 AM, election office sources said. Polling has been peaceful so far. There were reports of EVMs malfunctioning in Dibrugarh, Kaliabor, Tezpur and Lakhimpur constituencies. The machines were later replaced and voting continued uninterrupted, the sources said. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, his wife as well as his son and Koliabor constituency Congress candidate Gaurav Gogoi cast their vote in Jorhat, while union minister and contestants Paban Singh Ghatowar and Ranee Narah also exercised their franchise in Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur constituencies, respectively. [caption id=“attachment_1468853” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Indian people stand in line to cast their votes during the first phase of elections in Dibrugarh, in the northeastern state of Assam. AP[/caption] Former union minister and sitting MP Bijoy Krishna Handique, contesting as Congress nominee from Jorhat, also cast his vote with his family members. With 6.5 lakh first time voters registered this time, long queues were seen in front of the polling booths. Most of the early morning voters were women who said they wanted to cast their ballot before they get busy in household chores for the day. The Congress, BJP, Trinamool Congress, AIUDF, AGP, AAP, SUCI, CPI(M), AIFB and SP are contesting in the five seats during the first phase of elections in the Congress-ruled state. The state election office was webcasting the election process in each polling station. Among the 51 candidates are union ministers Ranee Narah and Paban Singh Ghatowar, sitting MP Bijoy Krishna Handique, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s son Gourav Gogoi and Bhupen Kumar Bora from the Congress. Congress rebel and Independent candidate Moni Kumar Subba is also in the fray. For the BJP, its unit president Sorbananda Sonowal and Kamakhya Prasad Tasa are contesting, while AGP’s nominees are Arun Kumar Sarma, Pradip Hazarika and Joseph Toppo. An electorate of 64,41,634, including 31,20,067 women, are expected to exercise their franchise at 8,588 polling stations. For the first time in the Northeast region and the third time in the country after Kashmir and Bihar, all polling booths have been declared smoking free zones. Security measures have been tightened for the polls with additional companies of security forces, including CRPF, deployed. The next phase of the polls will be held on April 12 for three Lok Sabha seats. PTI