Guwahati: Polling for the third and last phase of Assam legislative assembly elections begins by 7 am this morning which would determine the fate of 337 candidates including 25 women aspirants contesting in 40 assembly constituencies. The election machinery has completed all arrangements for conducting a free, fair and peaceful polling in 11,401 polling stations, where over 45,600 polling personnel are being engaged.
According to State’s chief electoral officer Nitin Khade, over 30,000 central armed forces along with State police personnel are being deployed, as altogether 79,19,641 general electors (among them 39,07,963 females, 139 trans genders and 26,460 service voters) are getting the opportunity to decide their representatives in respective constituencies.
The constituencies having the highest number of electors is Dispur with 4,11,636 electors and the lowest one remains Dharmapur with 1,41,592 voters. Guwahati West seat witnesses the maximum number of candidates (15) where Boko constituency has only three candidates. So far, the poll percentage from the 47 constituencies (phase one on 27 March) was 79.97% and voters’ turnout in 39 seats (second phase on 1 April) was recorded as 80.96 %.
In the backdrop of Covid-19 pandemic, the election authority has taken all possible precautionary measures have been taken for the safety of election officials and the voters. Each and every polling station are sanitized one day prior to polling and facility of thermal scanning, hand sanitizers, face masks are made available at polling stations.Assured minimum facilities like drinking water, waiting shed, toilet, necessary lighting, wheelchairs for needy electors are also made available for the benefit of voters.
High profile candidates today include Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Himanta Biswa Sarma, Ranjeet Kumar Dass, Siddhartha Bhattacharya, Chandra Mohan Patowary, Atul Bora, Ashok Kumar Singhi, Narayan Deka, Suman Haripriya, Ashwini Ray Sarkar, etc, BJP’s ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) nominees Phani Bhushan Choudhury, Ramendra Narayan Kalita, Gunindra Nath Das, Kalpana Patowary, etc.
For the opposition Congress party, Rekibuddin Ahmed, Nandita Das, Wazed Ali Choudhury, Sherman Ali Ahmed, Abdur Rashid Mandal, Sukur Ali Ahmed, Jakir Hussain Sikdar, Abul Kalam Rasheed Alam, etc are seeking votes in respective seats. Its ally Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) nominates Pramila Rani Brahma, Chandan Brahma, Majendra Narzary, Charan Boro, Rabiram Narzary, Kamalshing Narzary and AIUDF has Hafiz Bashir Ahmed, Nazrul Haque, Nizanur Rahman, etc in the fray.
