5 LS seats in Assam register voter turnout of 45.12% till 1pm

Guwahati: A voter turnout of 45.12 per cent was recorded till 1pm in the five Lok Sabha seats in Assam where elections are underway, officials said on Friday.

Jorhat recorded the highest turnout of 47.73 per cent, followed by Sonitpur with 45.25 per cent, Lakhimpur (44.33 pc) Kaziranga (44.32 pc) and Dibrugarh (44.02 pc).

The polling, which began at 7 am, will continue till 5 pm.

A total of 86,47,869 voters will decide the fate of 35 candidates in these five seats.

Prominent candidates in the fray are Union Minister and BJP nominee Sarbananda Sonowal and his rival Lurinjyoti Gogoi as the opposition supported candidate from Dibrugarh, Lok Sabha deputy leader of opposition Gaurav Gogoi of Congress from Jorhat, who is contesting against BJP sitting MP Topon Gogoi, the ruling party's Lakhimpur sitting MP Pradan Baruah, Rajya Sabha MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa and MLA Ranjit Dutta.

Most of the candidates exercised their franchise within the first two hours of polling.