Guwahati (Assam), April 9: Assam is witnessing a massive turn out of voters as the northeast Indian state goes to the Assembly election to elect 126 legislators on Thursday.
According to information, the turnout has crossed 50% till 1 in the afternoon and serpentine queue of voters are seen in front of many polling booths amid tight security measures.
Polling for the 126 assembly constituencies began at 7 in the morning simultaneously across 31,490 booths 2,49,58,139 voters are exercising their franchise. The voting is scheduled to end at 6 in the morning.
Election commission sources here say, all 722 candidates have already exercised their franchised in their respected booths by 2 in the afternoon.
Barring a few incidents of EVM malfunctioning’s in some places, there is no such report of any untoward incident from anywhere in the state.
The BJP-led NDA Government with Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma as Chief Minister is seeking mandate for a third consecutive term while the Congress party under the leadership of MP Gaurav Gogoi along with help of 4 other parties have been contesting to regain power after a period of 10 years.
Top candidates in the fray on Thursday include Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, MP and Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Gaurav Gogoi, Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia, AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal, Raijor Dal leader Akhil Gogoi, and Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) president Lurinjyoti Gogoi.
The Congress has fielded 99 candidates to be followed by the BJP with 90. Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) have fielded 26 and 11 candidates, respectively. The AIUDF is contesting in 30 seats, while NDA allies.
Other parties in the fray include Raijor Dal (13), AJP (10), CPI(M) (3), APHLC (2), AAP (18), UPPL (18), Trinamool Congress (22), and JMM (16).
