Assam Records 70% Voter Turnout At End Of Polls

Assam recorded 70 per cent voter turnout in the Municipal Board Elections till 8 pm on Sunday, according to the Assam state election commission.

Polls were held for 80 Municipal Boards that comprised of 977 wards across the state and concluded at 4 pm.

The Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) were submitted by the polling personnel at the strong rooms set up by the State Election Commission throughout Assam, reported ANI.

Notably, 57 of the 977 wards across the 80 Municipal Boards were declared uncontested and elections were held for 920 wards.

A total of 2,532 candidates were vying for votes in the civic polls. Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fielded the maximum of 825 candidates which was followed by Congress with 706 and BJP’s ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) with 243 candidates.

Hiranya Kumar Sarma, the presiding officer at Kamrup’s Palashbari High School was quoted by ANI as saying, “The Municipal Board election was held peacefully.”

"For the first time, EVMs are used instead of ballot papers in these elections," added Chandan Kalita, Presiding Officer, Kamrup on Assam Municipal elections.

Earlier on Sunday, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal expressed confidence over the victory of BJP candidates in the municipal polls in Assam as he visited a polling booth station in Dibrugarh district to cast his vote.

According to the State Election Commission, the total electors for the 80 municipal boards were 16,73,899 which included 8,32,348 male voters, 8,41,534 female voters and 17 voters belonged to the third gender.

At the end of polling, Lakhimpur's Narayanpur ward saw the highest voter turnout of 83.01 per cent, followed by Kamrup district's Palashbari at 82.1 per cent and Goalpara's Lahkipur ward at 82 percent.

Meanwhile, Tinsukia district's Makum ward recorded the lowest voter turnout of 51.25 per cent, followed by Dibrugarh's Namrup at 51.91 per cent and Golaghat's Dergaon ward at 52.23 per cent.

The counting of votes will be held on March 9.