Assam: Voters’ euphoria defies wet weather

Voting incident-free; Turnout around 80 percent;

I hope people voted for progress, says CM

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: The voters, from timers to octogenarians, were in a state of euphoria and thronged the polling booths, daring the inclement weather. The third and final phase of the parliamentary election that concluded today was incident-free, as were the first two phases. The voter turnout was around 80 percent in this phase.

Guwahati, Barpeta, Kokrajhar, and Dhubri parliamentary constituencies went to poll today in as many as 9,516 polling stations. Till the time of filing this report, no major report of a poll-related incident was received from any of the polling stations.

Thanking the people of the state for the peaceful poll, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “The peaceful election signifies that Assam is on the path of development. I hope people have voted for the progress of the state.” Despite incessant rains since morning, all four constituencies today witnessed heavy turnouts of voters who patiently stood in queues waiting for their turns. Some of the voters were seen with umbrellas spread overhead. Some of the voters were seen using even flat banana leaves over their heads. There were a few small complaints in some areas, including EVM glitches.

Till 7 p.m., the turnouts were 74.2 percent in the Kokrajhar Lok Sabha seat, 79.7 percent in the Dhubri Lok Sabha seat, 76.2 percent in the Barpeta constituency, and 67.6 percent in the Guwahati Lok Sabha seat. The turnouts are likely to go up as reports from some of the remote areas have yet to reach their headquarters. 

The fates of AGP candidate Phani Bhushan Choudhury, Congress candidate Rakibul Hussain, Badruddin Ajmal of the AIUDF, Manoranjan Talukdar of the CPI (M), Bijuli Kalita Medhi of the BJP, Joyanta Basumatary of the UPPL, and Mira Barthakur Goswami of the Congress were sealed in EVMs. This phase of the poll had 47 candidates in the fray.

A strong force of 38,000 polling personnel were engaged in this phase of the poll, besides the deployment of a total of 143 companies of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF).

Also Read: Assam: 1,529 centurion voters in phase-III of Lok Sabha poll (sentinelassam.com)

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