An estimated 51 per cent polling was recorded till 2 p.m. on Monday in 65 constituencies of Assam to decide the fate of 539 contestants during the first phase of Assembly elections.
Half of the 95,11,732 voters including Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi have cast their votes so far, election office sources said, adding 50.83 per cent polling was recorded across 2,190 polling stations in 65 constituencies till 2 p.m..
Besides Tarun Gogoi, the fates of BJP’s Chief Ministerial candidate Sarbananda Sonowal and his alliance partner AGP’s Working President Atul Bora will be decided in the first phase polls.
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A lot of voters were seen standing in long queues along with others for hours as many of the polling booths giving it a festive look.
Some of the booths were adorned with multi-coloured festoons and buntings, others with red, blue, white and orange balloons and yet some had earthen urns painted with smiling human faces on them.
The ruling Congress, the BJP-AGP-BPF alliance and the AIUDF, CPM, CPI-M, CPI-(M)(L) are in the fray.
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CCTV cameras and web casting facilities have also been put in place by the election office for a free and fair election.
For today’s first phase of polling Congress is contesting in all the 65 constituencies, BJP in 54 and its alliance partners — AGP in 11 and BPF in three, AIUDF in 27, CPI and CPM in ten each with CPI(ML)(L) in six along with 60 others of unrecognised parties and 13 Independents.
The remaining 61 seats will go to the polls in the second and final phase of polling on April 11.