46.42 per cent polling recorded in Assam till 1pm

GUWAHATI: An estimated 46.42 per cent of over 69 lakh electorate exercised their franchise till 1 pm Thursday in five parliamentary constituencies of Assam, an election official said


The voting process for the second phase began at 7am in 8,992 polling booths of Karimganj (SC), Silchar, Autonomous Districts (ST), Nowgong and Mangaldoi Lok Sabha seats.

According to the official, there were reports of

EVM glitches

in several booths, but the polling personnel have addressed the issues.

Mangaldoi recorded maximum polling till 1 pm at 50.97 per cent followed by autonomous districts at 49.90 per cent, Karimganj (SC) at 46.87 per cent and Silchar at 44.13

Nowgong recorded the lowest voter turnout among the five seats at 41.42 per cent.

Among the 69,10,592 electorate in the state, 35,54,460 are male, 33,55,95 female and 180 of the third gender.

Women and first-time voters were seen queuing up outside the booths even before the process began at 7 am.

In about 84 model polling stations, volunteers, in traditional attire, extended a warm welcome to the voters.

These booths, decked up with balloons and festoons, have drinking water facilities, baby feeding rooms and a resting place for the elderly, the official said.

Fifty candidates, three of them women, are in the fray from the five constituencies.

Prominent among them are sitting Congress MPs

Sushmita Dev

from Silchar and Biren Singh Engti from autonomous districts(ST), Congress Rajya Sabha MP Bhubaneswar Kalita and BJP MLAs Rupak Sharma from Nowgonga and Rajdeep Roy from Silchar.