Voting for the first phase of Assam Assembly elections are underway in 47 constituencies.
60.55 percent voter turnout has been recorded till 3pm in the first phase of Assam Assembly elections.
Voting for the first phase of Assam Assembly elections began at 7 in the morning and culminate at 6pm on Saturday.
The first phase of polling will decide the fate of 264 candidates including 23 female candidates.
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal is the biggest name on the ballot on Saturday.
Other big names in fray in the first phase of Assam Assembly elections are outgoing Speaker Hitendranath Goswami – who is facing former MLA Rana Goswami of the Congress in Jorhat.
Assam Congress chief Ripun Borah is in direct contest with sitting BJP MLA Utpal Bora in Gohpur.
Jailed activist Akhil Gogoi is in fray from Sibsagar constituency.
Voting is underway in 11,537 polling stations mostly covering the eastern Assam’s 12 districts.
A total of 8,109,815 voters, including 4,032,481 females, are eligible to exercise their franchise.
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Voting is underway with adherence to strict COVID-19 protocols.
COVID-19 protocols for the voters, including social distancing and thermal screening, are being maintained.
Election officials said that to avoid crowding, the number of voters for every booth has been brought down to a maximum of a thousand.
As a result, the number of polling booths has been augmented by 34.71 per cent to 33,530 from 24,890 in 2016.
To avoid direct contact with the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), every elector is being given a hand glove.
Over 30,000 Central Armed Police Forces along with thousands of state security forces have been deployed to maintain law and order during this phase.
No untoward incident has been reported so far from any of the 12 districts where balloting is underway.
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In the 2016 Assam Assembly elections, the ruling BJP-led alliance secured 35 of the 47 seats, where’s voting underway.
The Congress had won nine seats of the 47 seats where voting is underway and the remaining three seats were won by other parties.
