Guwahati: An estimated 65 per cent electorate exercised their franchise in the first phase of the panchayat elections in Assam which was marked by minor incidents of irregularities related to electoral rolls.
Voting began at 7 am in eight upper Assam districts and ended at 3 pm.
The voting percentage is expected to go up as final reports were yet to come in, official sources said here.
Irregularities in electoral rolls with names of eligible voters missing and wrong symbols printed were reported from some polling centres in Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Nagaon, Sibsagar and Golaghat districts due to which polling in these centres had to stopped.
Decision regarding repoll in these centres would be taken by the state Election Commission, the sources said.
The Commission had appointed 16 observers to ensure smooth and fair conduct of the polls in 8269 polling stations.
The districts which went to polls in the first phase were Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Sivasagar, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Jorhat, Golaghat and Nagaon.
Elections for 164 zila parishad constituencies, 861 anchalik panchayat constituencies, 861 gaon panchayat president constituencies and 8610 ward member constituencies.
Altogether, 529 candidates contested in the zila parishad constituencies, 2,546 candidates in anchalik panchayat constituencies, 2,748 candidates in gaon panchayat president constituencies and a total 22,051 candidates are in fray for the ward member posts.
The second and third phases of the panchayat poll are scheduled on February 6 and 12 respectively.
PTI
