Guwahati: Voting ended for five of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Voting began in the first of the three-phase elections in Assam on Thursday morning.
Forty-one candidates contested from five constituencies of Tezpur, Kaliabor, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur in the state.
Polling for 91 Lok Sabha constituencies, spread across 18 states and two Union Territories, was held amid heightened security.
The BJP had promised in its manifesto that it will enact the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, which was lapsed in the 16th Lok Sabha.
The Congress, on the other hand, wants to withdraw the bill. It had promised to ensure that no category is denied inclusion in the final NRC, and to restore Special Category status to the northeastern states.
Among the constituencies that went for polls in the first phase are - eight in Uttar Pradesh, five in Uttarakhand, four in Bihar, seven in Maharashtra, five in Assam, four in Odisha, two each in Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and West Bengal, and one each in Chhattisgarh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep.
Over 14 crore voters sealed the fate of 1279 candidates who were in the fray. Over 1 lakh polling booths were set up across the country, the EC said in a statement issued on Wednesday. It also mentioned that 7764 third gender voters will exercise their franchise in the first phase.
Voting for 543 Lok Sabha seats will be held in seven phases - April 11, April 18, April 23, April 29, May 6, May 12 and May 19. Counting of votes will be done on May 23.
On Wednesday, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora had urged citizens to come out and cast their votes in order to strengthen democracy.
"It's a humble appeal that more and more people should come and cast their votes so that the bedrock of democracy strengthens. Our efforts will be fructified if each one of us who is an elector shows adequate zeal and faith in the democratic system," he told.
Elaborate security arrangements have been put in place for the Lok Sabha elections and tight vigil is being maintained at interstate borders.
Voter turnout till 5 pm: 67.40%
- Tezpur: 70%
- Kaliabor: 64%
- Jorhat: 72%
- Dibrugarh: 69%
- Lakhimpur: 62%
Voter turnout till 3pm: 59.46%
- Tezpur: 63.01%
- Kaliabor: 60%
- Jorhat: 62%
- Dibrugarh: 59.29%
- Lakhimpur: 53%
Voter turnout till 11am: 25%
- Dibrugarh: 24%
- Jorhat: 25%
- Tezpur: 28%
- Lakhimpur: 22%
- Kaliabar: 26%
Voter turnout till 9am: 10.2%
- Dibrugarh: 11.5%
- Jorhat: 15%
- Tezpur: 17%
- Lakhimpur: 9%
- Kaliabar: 20%
