World’s Largest Democratic Excercise As Voting Begins In Assam, Tripura - Technical Snag In EVMs Hamper Voting

INNLIVE | Election Bureau

People queued up at polling booths in Assam's five constituencies as balloting began in the first phase of the Lok Sabha election Monday. The state recorded 12 percent voting in the first two hours, officials said here. 

The polling started at 7 am in most of the polling stations, barring a few polling booths under Kaliabor and Tezpur Lok Sabha constituencies where the process was delayed due to some technical snags in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). People were seen queuing up at most of the 8,588 polling booths since early hours in the morning. 
An estimated 6.4 million people are eligible to vote in Tezpur, Jorhat, Kaliabor, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur constituencies. A total of 51 candidates are in the fray in the first phase.

The first phase of the Lok Sabha elections in five seats in Assam began on Monday on a peaceful note. Polling for the Tripura West Lok Sabha seat also began in the Left Front-ruled state that has two parliamentary constituencies. Tripura West has recorded 18 percent turn-out by 9.30 am and polling has been peaceful in the region.

Five constituencies in Assam — Tezpur, Kaliabor, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur and Tripura (West) in Tripura — are voting today.

Elderly women in saris and young men in jeans and polo shirts lined up outside a dilapidated sports centre before voting started on a cool morning in Debrugarh, a river town in the tea growing Assam, one of two states to vote on Monday.

“We need a change, someone who will come and change the whole scenario,” said handbag shop manager Ashim Sarkar, 35, lining up soon after voting started at 7 am.

In Assam, the Congress, BJP, Trinamool Congress, AIUDF, AGP, AAP, SUCI, CPI(M), AIFB and SP are contesting in the five seats in
Tezpur, Koliabor, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur in the Congress-ruled state.

Among the 51 candidates, Union ministers Ranee Narah and Paban Singh Ghatowar, former Union minister and sitting MLA Bijoy Krishna Handique, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s son Gourav Gogoi and Bhupen Kumar Bora are for the Congress.

An electorate of 64,41,634, including 31,20,067 women, are expected to exercise their franchise at 8,588 polling stations. For the first time in the Northeast region and the third time in the country after Kashmir and Bihar, all polling booths have been declared smoking free.

In Tripura, the seat will witness a multi-cornered contest among the CPI(M), the Congress, the TMC and the BJP.

Among the 13 candidates, major contestants are CPI(M)’s Shankar Prasad Dutta, secretary of the state unit of CITU, Congress’ Arunoday Saha, former vice-chancellor of Tripura Central University, Sudhindra Dasgupta, BJP’s state unit chief and chairman of the state unit of TMC and former minister Ratan Chakraborty.

The CPI(M) has won the seat ten out of 15 times between 1952 and 2009. Since 1996 the CPI(M) has consistently won this seat.

Of the 12,46,794 voters, 634702 are male and the remaining female. Altogether 1,605 polling stations have been set up for the constituency of which only two have been identified as very vulnerable, 486 as vulnerable.