Guwahati: The voting came to an end peacefully at 5 pm on Saturday in Assam, Meghalaya, and Mizoram of northeast Bharat for byelections in nine assembly constituencies, where the NDPP candidate was declared uncontested from Shamtorr-Chessor assembly seat in Nagaland.
Five Assam assembly constituencies witnessed nearly 70% polling, where Gossaigaon seat reported highest polling (76.71%) and Mariani recorded the lowest turnout (61.62 %) in the stipulated time. Thowra seat recorded 75.07 %, where Bhabanipur reported 74 % and Tamulpur 62 % polling.
Altogether 31 candidates representing different national and regional political parties as well as independents were in the fray, among whom 7,96,456 general electors got the opportunity to elect five legislators to the 126-member State legislative assembly. State chief electoral officer Nitin Khade, while expressing happiness over the peaceful polling, informed a total of 5,410 polling personnel were engaged in the polling exercise where 1, 869 ballot
units, 1, 844 control units along with 1, 861 VVPATs were used. As a major push for conducting free & fair elections, live monitoring and webcasting was arranged by the authority.
The personnel belonging to central armed police forces were deployed at each polling station for security measures and to ensure a conducive atmosphere for the voting. In the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, the authority took every possible precautionary measure to ensure that all the polling stations follow the corona related guidelines for the safety of voters and election officials.
Each and every polling station was sanitized prior to the event and the facility of thermal scanning, hand sanitizers, face-masks were made available. The electorates were ensured minimum facilities like drinking water, waiting shed, toilet, adequate arrangement for lighting, wheelchairs for needy persons, etc in all polling stations.
The ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) fielded three former legislators belonging to Indian National Congress (INC) and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF). One of the saffron allies, United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) nominated its candidates for two seats.
They were challenged by representatives from INC, AIUDF, Bodoland People’s Front, Gana Suraksha Party, Communist Party of India, etc in the electoral battles. Presently, the saffron party has 59 legislators in the assembly and its allies Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) has nine MLAs and UPPL has five legislators. The opposition Congress has 27 legislators and AIUDF has 15 MLAs.
BPF, a former ally of BJP, has 3 legislators and CPI(M) has one member. The assembly also has one independent legislator (who represents Raijor Dol). Meghalaya and Mizoram also reported impressive turnout of voters in the polling centers. Till 3 pm on Saturday, Rajabala seat in Garo Hills recorded 66% voting, where Mawphlang constituency witnessed 64.51% polling and Mawryngkneng 62.14% till the afternoon hours.
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