Assam bypolls 64 pc voting in 5 assembly seats till 3 PM

Guwahati, Nov 13 (PTI) Over 64 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 3 pm on Wednesday in the five assembly seats in Assam where by-elections were underway with sporadic violence reported from some places, officials said.
    According to the Election Commission, approximately 64.27 per cent of 9,09,057 general electors exercised their franchise in the first eight hours to decide the fate of 34 candidates.
    Bypolls are taking place in Dholai, Sidli, Bongaigaon, Behali and Samaguri assembly constituencies as these seats fell vacant with their MLAs winning the Lok Sabha elections.
    Bongaigaon recorded the highest turnout of 66.94 per cent, followed by Samaguri at 66.33 per cent, Behali at 64.34 per cent, Sidli at 64.22 per cent and Dholai at 60.01 per cent, according to EC.
    "Voting is going on peacefully so far and we have not received any adverse reports. People started coming to their respective booths from as early as 5.30 am. Long queues of voters were seen outside polling booths in most of the places," Chief Electoral Officer Anurag Goel told PTI.
    He, however, said there were reports of "minor violence" in some places of Samaguri and Behali, but those took place on roads or areas away from the polling stations, where voting is going on unaffected.
    A police official said a complaint was received from Congress MP Rakibul Hussain, whose son Tanzil is a candidate in Samaguri, that a gang of miscreants went to his residence and threatened them with dire consequences.
    "I will quit politics if BJP will attack me and my family like this. I have already sent a message to CM Himanta Biswa Sarma urging him to stop such threats," the MP told reporters after casting his vote.
    An SUV with a press sticker that was following Hussain's convoy to one of the polling stations was attacked. Its window panes were smashed.
    Reports of arguments and scuffles have surfaced from several polling stations in Samaguri, but officials claimed that voting was uninterrupted.
    Congress also alleged that its workers were threatened by BJP MP Ranjit Dutta at Behali. The MP, however, denied the allegations.
    The CEO said that there were reports of malfunctioning EVMs in some booths during the mock polling, and those machines were replaced.
    Another official said that reports of EVM malfunctioning were received from some polling stations after voting started. Those machines were immediately replaced as a sufficient number of units were kept in reserve.
    Most of the contesting candidates voted in their respective booths during the first two hours of polling.
    Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma appealed to the people to actively take part in the bypolls.
    "Your voice matters and the choice you make will determine the course of your constituency's development in the coming days," he said in a post on X.
    Voting began at 7 am and is scheduled to conclude at 5 pm.
    Around 9,000 polling personnel have been engaged to ensure a smooth election across 1,078 polling stations in the five seats.
    Webcasting is being done from 592 polling stations, while 11 booths have been made model polling stations and 14 are being managed by all-women staff.
    A total of 15 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), comprising about 1,500 personnel, have been deployed for the bypoll.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)