GUWAHATI, Oct 6: The Nagaon Lok Sabha by-election recorded a voter turnout of 56.35 per cent by 1 pm on Tuesday, with polling continuing across the constituency under heightened security and monitoring arrangements.
Lahorighat recorded the highest turnout at 61.48 per cent, followed by Samaguri at 58.81 per cent, Jagiroad at 58.13 per cent, Rupohihat at 57.97 per cent, Dhing at 57.01 per cent, Morigaon at 55.61 per cent, Raha at 51.70 per cent and Nagaon-Batadroba at 47.07 per cent.
Polling began at 7 am and is scheduled to continue until 5 pm. The constituency has 2,112 polling stations, including five auxiliary stations, five model polling stations and 335 booths managed by women. A total of 19,02,009 voters, comprising 9,58,595 men, 9,43,364 women and 50 third-gender voters, are eligible to vote. Fifteen candidates are contesting the seat.
Former Nagaon MP Pradyut Bordoloi cast his vote at Morikolong High School in Nagaon as polling continued.
The Nagaon and Morigaon district administrations have deployed around 9,664 polling personnel for the election. The arrangements include 86 micro-observers, 69 Flying Squad Teams and 69 Static Surveillance Teams. Webcasting has been enabled at all polling stations for real-time monitoring of the voting process.
The by-election is being contested by 15 candidates, with BJP candidate Debashish Sharma, Congress nominee Sibamoni Bora and AIUDF chief and Binnakandi MLA Badruddin Ajmal among the prominent contenders.
Sharma, a former Nagaon district commissioner, entered electoral politics after retiring from government service. Bora is a former legislator from the redrawn Batadroba constituency, while Ajmal, a former Lok Sabha member from Dhubri, is seeking a return to Parliament.
The bypoll was necessitated by Bordoloi’s resignation after he contested the Dispur Assembly seat on a BJP ticket.
Counting of votes is scheduled for October 9.
