70% polling recorded in Assam
Voting for the first phase of Assembly elections in Assam ended on Monday with an estimated 70 per cent polling recorded, officials said.
An election official said the voting per centage could go up as reports from interior places were still pouring in.
Voting ended at 3 p.m. in the 13 Assam districts where polling was held in 62 of the 126 Assembly seats.
The fate of 485 candidates were sealed in the ballot; of these, 38 are women nominees.
The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had fielded 62 candidates each for the first phase, while the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) had put up 51 nominees. There are 157 independent candidates in the fray for the first phase.
A total of 9.6 million voters in the second phase elections April 11 in 64 seats would decide the fate of 496 candidates. Results are due on May 13.
Among the prominent candidates whose fate were sealed in the first phase vote include chief minister Tarun Gogoi, power minister Pradyut Bordoloi, state BJP president Ranjit Dutta and senior AGP leader Brindaban Goswami.
"I am confident the Congress party would be able to make a political hat trick by forming the government for the third straight term," Gogoi told IANS soon after casting his vote in his home district of Jorhat in Eastern Assam.
Gogoi is contesting from the Titabar Assembly seat in Jorhat district.
"People would vote us for good governance and all-round development," the chief minister said.
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