Assam: About 85 per cent exercise franchise in Phase 2

Around 85 per cent voters exercised their franchise in the second and final phase of polling in 61 Assembly constituencies in Assam on Monday to decide the fate of 525 candidates in the fray. The office of the chief electoral officer, Assam, said that the final figure of the voter turnout may go up as they are yet to calculate the votes of many remote polling stations.

Except a few sporadic incident of violence, the polling was almost incident-free across the state.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, representing Assam in the Rajya Sabha since 1991, came from Delhi to cast his ballot at the Dispur Government High School polling booth. His wife Gurcharan Kaur, also a voter of Dispur constituency, however, did not come to vote.

“I think people of Assam will reward the Congress for the good work it has done for the people of Assam in last 15 years,” said Mr Singh while emerging from a polling booth in the school campus.

Indian boxer from Assam Shiva Thapa, along with his family members, also cast his vote. He said that he took time out from his ongoing training schedule outside Assam to exercise his franchise. “It is a big responsibility for each one of us and all should come out to vote,” said the boxer.

In what has been attributed as a vote for change, most of the polling booths wore a crowded look since early in the morning.

Though polling was by and large peaceful, an incident of firing in the air by CPRF took place at a polling station at Chaygaon in Kamrup rural district.

The firing took place following protest over a CRPF personnel allegedly misbehaving with a pregnant voter to prevent her from returning to the booth after casting vote to pick up her child whom she had left behind.

The entire team of CRPF deployed in the polling station was replaced after the incident, the district superintendent of police Prasanta Saikia said.

In Barpeta district, one person died and three others, including two CRPF personnel, were injured in a clash between the Central forces and voters at Safarkumar polling station in Sorbhog constituency over forming a queue for casting votes.

A scuffle had broken out when the CRPF personnel asked voters to stand in a queue, which led to arguments and jostling, district election officials said.

In the scuffle, four persons were injured, including an 80-year old voter, a CRPF assistant commandant and constable Amarjeet. They were rushed to Barpeta Medical College Hospital where the octogenarian was declared dead.

Voting in both the polling stations, however, continued uninterrupted. There were also reports of malfunctioning of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) in some polling centers across middle and lower Assam and they were replaced immediately, election office said.