Assam Assembly Elections: 74.69 per cent voter turnout recorded till 6pm, says Election Commission

Guwahati: 74.69 per cent of the 73,44,631 voters exercised their franchise till 6 pm in the second phase of polling in Assam on Thursday, election officials said, adding that no untoward incident was reported from the 39 constituencies.

Senior election officials and police officers said that no incident of violence was reported so far from the 13 districts where the voting took place.

In a few polling stations, voting was halted for some time due to technical snags in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), which were soon rectified.

Men, women and first-time voters queued up in front of the polling stations in large numbers well before the voting began at 7 a.m. Polling time has been increased by an hour till 6 p.m. by the election officials in view of the Covid-19 situation.

According to the Chief Electoral Officer of Assam, Nitin Khade, 73,44,631 voters, including 36,09,959 women, are eligible to cast their votes across 10,592 polling stations in the second phase that will decide the fate of candidates in 39 Assembly constituencies. As many as 556 polling stations are being managed by women officials.

Around 31,000 Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel, along with thousands of state security force personnel, have been deployed to maintain law and order during this phase in which 42,368 polling personnel are engaged.

In Thursday's polling, the electoral fate of 345 candidates, including 26 women aspirants, will be decided.