The five Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam that went to polls as part of second phase recorded 73.23 percent of polling till 5 pm despite reports of stone pelting at security forces in some polling booths in Hailakandi district.
The final polling percentage is likely to increase as many of the returning officers in over 1,000 remote polling stations across these five constituencies are yet to update the office of the Chief Electoral Officer here regarding poll percentage.
“There are 1,033 remote polling stations in Phase II, many of whom will be returning tomorrow late evening. The final figure will be released after all the polling parties return,” said an official of the CEO’s office here.
The officer also declined to divulge the details if any electronic voting machines malfunctioned anywhere in the state although unofficial sources reported massive malfunctioning of EVMs from across different polling stations.
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While Karimganj recorded 71.41 percent, Silchar constituency recorded 71.79 percent polling till 5 pm. The Autonomous District (Diphu) Lok Sabha constituency polled 69.51 percent while Mangaldai recorded 75.07 polling till 5 pm followed by Nowgong with 75.71 polling.
The overall polling percentage in 2014 Lok Sabha poll across the 14 constituencies was 80.13 percent.
Election officials said that there was a scuffle in one of the polling booths in Hailakandi district of Barak Valley.
There was also an incident stone pelting on the security forces by miscreants, officials said.
The Hailakandi district administration had imposed Section 144 CrPC in and around the district following apprehension of disturbance during the polling process.
The polling started at 7 am across 8,992 polling centres and continued till 5 p.m.
Nearly 36,000 personnel had been deployed in the second phase of the general elections, officials said.
On April 11, polling was held in five Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam – Tezpur, Kaliabar, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur.
A total of 69,10,592 voters were eligible to exercise their democratic right for the second phase in Assam to decide the fate of 50 candidates in the fray, including 18 Independents.