77.35% voter turnout recorded in second phase polling in 5 LS seats in Assam

Guwahati: An estimated 77.35 per cent of 77.26 lakh voters exercised their franchise in the second phase of polling in five Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam, election officials said on Saturday.

The final polling percentage could be further revised as the compilation of figures is yet to be completed, an official said.

Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency recorded the highest voter turnout of 80.56 per cent, followed by 78.41 per cent in Darrang-Udalguri, 75.97 per cent in Silchar (SC), 75.63 per cent in Karimganj and 73.11 per cent in Diphu, they said.

Sixty-one candidates are in the fray in this phase.

Assam Transport Minister Parimal Suklabaidya is pitted against Surya Kanta Sarkar of the Congress in Silchar, while BJP's Amarsing Tisso is contesting against Congress's Joyram Engleng in Diphu.

Nagaon's sitting Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi is contesting against BJP's Suresh Bora, while Karimganj's BJP MP Kripanath Malla is pitted against Congress's Hafiz Ahmed Rashid Choudhury.

In Darrang-Udalguri, the main contest is between BJP MP Dilip Saikia and former Congress MP Madhab Rajbongshi.

Altogether 77,26,668 voters, including 38,61,559 women and 179 persons of third gender, were eligible to exercise their franchise at 9,133 polling stations, of which 1,220 were identified as 'critical'.

There were 906 urban and 8,227 rural booths, while 473 were managed by women, 12 by persons with disabilities (PwD) and there were also 90 model polling stations.

More than 36,000 polling officials and around 40,000 security personnel were deployed during the second phase of polling on Friday.

In the first phase polls held on April 19, 78.25 per cent voter turnout was recorded in Kaziranga, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Sonitpur and Lakhimpur constituencies.