Assam: Phase III polling today to seal fate of 47 candidates

Live webcasting at 5266 polling stations; 143 Central police force companies deployed

 Staff Reporter

Guwahati: Assam is ready for the polling in the third and final phase of the Lok Sabha election, and the fate of 47 candidates in the reckoning will be sealed in EVMs in four parliamentary constituencies tomorrow (May 7). Of the 47 candidates in the poll fray, 41 are male and 6 are female.

On Tuesday, the polling will start at 7 a.m. and conclude by 5 p.m. in the four parliamentary constituencies of Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Barpeta, and Guwahati.

The polling personnel are on their way and scheduled to arrive tonight at their respective places of duty at the polling stations, with a major portion of the personnel having already reached their destination.

As per the guidelines set by the ECI for the smooth conduct of the polls, necessary and sufficient security personnel have been placed at the polling stations. The BSF and Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) are also extending help to the Election Department, Assam, as many polling stations are in riverine areas.

The total number of electors in the third phase is 81,49,091. Of this figure, 41,00,544 are male voters, 40,48,436 are female voters, and 111 belong to the third gender.

40,705 of the electorate in the third phase are aged 85-plus.

The third phase of polling will be held in 9516 polling stations, of which 5266 polling stations will have webcasting facilities to ensure free and fair polling. Out of the total of 5266 polling stations that will do live webcasting, some are considered critical and some are marked as vulnerable. Also, of the total 9516 polling stations, 326 will be solely managed by women, 14 by people with disabilities (PwD), and 84 are model polling stations.

Addressing the media, Chief Electoral Officer, Assam, Anurag Goel, said, “We are ready for the poll. All necessary arrangements have been completed. I request all electors to participate in this festival of democracy. In the phase III poll, 9516 ballot units, control units, and VVPATs will be used. In case of any technical glitch with EVMs or VVPATs, we have sufficient numbers of additional machines at ground level, with sector officers and zonal officers. The EVM-carrying vehicles have GPS installed in  them for real-time tracking. Around 38,000 polling personnel are being engaged in the third phase of the polling process. A total of 143 companies of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) are deployed in the four parliamentary constituencies.”

In the third phase of the election on May 7, a number of high-profile and key candidates are in the fray. Among the high-profile candidates are AGP candidate for Barpeta parliamentary constituency Phani Bhusan Choudhury, AIUDF’s Badruddin Ajmal, and Congress’ Rakibul Hussain for the Dhubri parliamentary constituency.

Other key candidates contesting in the third phase of polling are: Kampa Borgoyari (BPF), Garjan Mashahary (Congress), Joyanta Basumatary (UPPL), Gauri Shankar Sarania (TMC), Binita Deka (Gana Suraksha Party), and Prithviraj Narayan Dev Mech (Independent) for the Kokrajhar parliamentary constituency; Zabed Islam (AGP) for the Dhubri parliamentary constituency; Manoranjan Talukdar (CPI-M), Deep Bayan (Congress), and Dulu Ahmed (independent) for the Barpeta parliamentary constituency; Bijuli Kalita Medhi (BJP) and Mira Borthakur Goswami (Congress) for the Guwahati parliamentary constituency.

It should be mentioned here that the first phase of polling was conducted on April 19 and the second on April 26. The counting of votes in the 14 parliamentary constituencies going to the polls in all three phases will be done on June 4, 2024.

 Also Read: Assam: 1,529 centurion voters in phase-III of Lok Sabha poll (sentinelassam.com)

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