OUR CORRESPONDENT
DIGBOI: About 74 percent voter turnout was registered in the first phase of the Assam Assembly elections on Saturday in 123 Digboi LAC in Tinsukia district.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stalwart Suren Phukon, Sibnath Chetiya of Congress and Prahlad Nayak of the Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) are in contest for the much coveted Digboi seat.
The poll proceedings were held amid tight security measures and polling was peaceful, unlike in 2016 when minor incidents of poll violence had taken place. Few complaints of technical glitches in Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) were reported in few polling stations which were resolved later.
"Finally, 74 per cent polling has been recorded till 7.29 pm," said an election officer, adding that voting was going on in few rural polling stations till filing of the report.
The LAC has 1,40,132 electorates of which 69,298 are male voters while female voters are 70,825 and 9 are transgender voters. Notably, only 99,143 voters took part in the polling this year, which is lesser in comparison to the 2016 poll wherein 80.89 per cent voter turnout was recorded, which was the highest ever in Digboi.
The polling was conducted in 205 polling stations, including 154 main polling stations while 51 were auxiliary. Total 25 micro observers and 22 videographers were pressed into service to ensure transparent, smooth and incidence-free electoral process.
The entire poll process concluded peacefully and smoothly without any untoward incident within the constituency. The result of the first phase of the Assam assembly election will be declared on May 2.