The second phase of the Lok Sabha elections in Assam witnessed a brisk voter turnout on Friday as people queued up in large numbers outside polling booths across the five parliamentary constituencies of Karimganj, Silchar, Diphu, Nagaon, and Darrang-Udalguri to exercise their democratic right.
Polling commenced at 7 am to decide the fate of 61 candidates in the fray. A total of 77,26,668 electors, including 38,61,559 women and 179 from the third gender, were eligible to cast their votes across 9,133 polling stations in this phase.
Appealing to citizens, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took to X (formerly Twitter) urging people to “vote in large numbers” as their “precious vote will shape the direction of Bharat in the years to come.”
Despite the Met Department’s forecast of hot and humid conditions, voters turned up early to avoid the scorching sun later in the day. “That is why all four members of our family came to vote early morning,” said first-time voter Shatabdi Roy at a polling booth in Silchar.
Heartening scenes were witnessed across constituencies, with young women carrying infants and elderly voters being assisted by volunteers at the booths. “My mother had the choice to vote from home, but she did not opt for it. She always enjoys coming to the polling station with neighbours and voting with them,” shared Ramen Boro, accompanying his 87-year-old mother Minati Boro in Udalguri.
However, the polling process was not without hiccups, as malfunctioning Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were reported at several locations, delaying the start of voting by nearly an hour at some booths. Officials stated that most glitches were identified during the mock poll conducted 90 minutes before the actual voting and were promptly rectified.
More than 36,000 election officials and around 40,000 security personnel were deployed to ensure smooth conduct of the second phase of polling across the five constituencies.