Assam: 75% voter turnout in second phase of panchayat polls

Guwahati: An estimated 75 per cent of the voters exercised their franchise Sunday in the second phase of panchayat polls in 10 districts of Assam which was largely peaceful, the state election commission said.

Voting will continue till late in the night in 900 polling stations as many voters entered the polling stations in the last hour before the end of the stipulated time, Assam State Election Commissioner H N Bora told reporters here.

Barring three incidents of complaints received from Cachar, Karimganj and Nalbari districts, polling was peaceful, he said. Repolling will be held in eight polling stations of Cachar and Karimganj and one in Nalbari on December 11, Bora added.

The polling percentage in the 10 districts is 75 per cent, with Dhubri recording the highest of 86 per cent, the SEC said. The polling figure will go up as many people are still in the polling booths to exercise their franchise, officials said.

As voting began in the morning, a few cases of anomalies regarding names of voters and candidates, symbols along with ballot papers were reported, which were resolved locally and polling continued uninterrupted, the SEC officials said.

Polling is being held in Nalbari, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Dhubri, South Salmara, Goalpara, Cachar, Hailakandi, Karimganj and Hojai to elect 169 zila parishad, 895 anchalik parishad, 895 gaon panchayats presidents and 8,950 gaon panchayat members from among a total of 35,056 contestants.

The first phase of polling was held on December five in 16 districts. The voter turnout on December 5 was 81.5 per cent. Counting of votes will be held on December 12.