Guwahati: An estimated 46.42 per cent of over 69 lakh electorate exercised their franchise till 1.00pm Thursday in the five parliamentary constituencies of Assam, an election official said here.
The voting process for the second phase began at 7.00am in 8,992 polling booths of Karimganj (SC), Silchar, Autonomous Districts (ST), Nowgong and Mangaldoi Lok Sabha seats. EVM glitches were reported from a number of booths, but officials said they had been addressed quickly.
Mangaldoi recorded maximum polling till at 50.97 per cent followed by Autonomous Districts at 49.90 per cent, Karimganj (SC) at 46.87 per cent and Silchar at 44.13 Nowgong recorded the lowest voter turnout among the five seats at 41.42 per cent.
Women and first-time voters were seen queuing up outside the booths even before the process began at 7.00am. In about 84 model polling stations, volunteers, in traditional attire, extended a warm welcome to the voters.
These booths, decked up with balloons and festoons, have drinking water facilities, baby feeding rooms and a resting place for the elderly, the official said.
Fifty candidates, three of them women, are in the fray from the five constituencies. Prominent among them are sitting Congress MPs Sushmita Dev from Silchar and Biren Singh Engti from Autonomous Districts(ST), Congress Rajya Sabha MP Bhubaneswar Kalita and BJP MLAs Rupak Sharma from Nowgonga and Rajdeep Roy from Silchar.
