Brisk polling in Assam first phase elections

Polling for 62 constituencies in the first phase of Assam Assembly election began on a brisk note on Monday with 12 percent voters casting their ballots till 9 am.

Sunshine and rains greeted voters in different parts of the 13 districts that went to the polls in the first phase.

Polling started at 7 am and will continue till 3 pm.

Rain in some parts of easetrn and northern Assam was a bit of dampener, though polling picked up later.

No untoward incident was reported in the morning. EVMs caused problems in some polling stations.

Altogether 85,09,010 voters, comprising 43,91,889 male and 41,17,121 female, are eligible to cast their votes in the 62 constituencies, spread across Barak Valley and eastern and northern districts.

Of the 62 constituencies, three are reserved for SC and nine for ST candidates.

The Assam assembly has 126 seats.

The fate of 485 candidates, including 38 female, will be sealed in the Electronic Voting Machines in the first phase.

Polling is being held in 11,264 polling stations in 7743 locations.

Of these, 1350 are being covered by video or still photo surveillance.

As many as 2093 polling stations have been identified as hyper-sensitive and 2985 as sensitive. Another 817 hamlets have been identified as vulnerable.

Electorate-wise, the largest constituency is Jonai with 2,32,669 voters and the smallest is Thowra with 94,728 voters.

There is highest number of 25 candidates contesting in Karimganj (South) constituency, while lowest three candidates are in fray in Baithalangso constituency.

Among the high-profile candidates whose fate will be sealed during the day are Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, BJP state president Ranjit Dutta, former AGP chief Brindabon Goswami, Assembly Speaker TB Rai and several state Cabinet ministers.