Guwahati, Oct 6: Nearly 38 per cent of 19.05 lakh voters exercised their franchise in the bypoll to the Nagaon Lok Sabha seat in Assam till 11 am on Tuesday, with no untoward incident reported, an official said.
Polling began at 7 am and will continue till 5 pm.
The bypoll was necessitated after Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi resigned from the Lok Sabha seat and successfully contested the Assembly elections from Dispur on a BJP ticket earlier this year.
“The polling has been peaceful so far, as no untoward incident was reported from any polling station in the eight assembly segments under the Lok Sabha constituency. The voting percentage at 11 am was 37.82, up from 17.68 at 9 am,” the official said.
The highest polling of 42.49 per cent was recorded in the Laharighat Assembly constituency, while the lowest, 30.54 per cent, was registered in Nagaon-Batadraba till 11 am.
BJP candidate Devashis Sharma, a former IAS officer, cast his vote at a polling booth at Mayong Higher Secondary School under the Jagiroad Assembly constituency, while Congress candidate and former MLA Sibamoni Bora exercised her franchise at Majgaon Primary School in the Nagaon-Batadraba Assembly segment.
Sharma told reporters, after exercising his franchise, that it is the voters’ choice to elect a suitable candidate.
Bora said everyone is aware that the BJP and the AIUDF are the ”same entity, but I am confident that the Congress will retain the seat”.
Fifteen candidates are in the fray, but the main contest is expected among Sharma, Bora and AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal.
While the bypoll result will not impact the balance of power in Parliament, stakes are high for the major political parties.
The ruling BJP is seeking to expand its base in this Muslim-majority constituency, while the Congress is going all out to retain the seat by keeping its minority support base intact.
The AIUDF, the third prominent party in the fray, is fighting to maintain its influence after it was reduced to two MLAs from 16 in the April assembly election.
The district administration has made elaborate security arrangements, with 624 polling stations identified as sensitive, another official said.
A total of 19.05 lakh voters, including 9.43 lakh women and 50 third-gender electors, are eligible to cast their votes at 2,312 polling stations, including five auxiliary booths.
The counting of votes is scheduled for October 9. (PTI)
