BJP candidate Debashish Sharma cast his ballot at Mayong Higher Secondary School on Tuesday as voting began for the Nagaon Lok Sabha by-election, appealing to voters to exercise their franchise. Sharma became emotional after voting and also conveyed his best wishes to the candidates contesting against him.
Polling began at 7 am and is scheduled to continue until 5 pm across 2,112 polling stations. The arrangements include five auxiliary booths, five model polling stations and 335 women-managed booths.
A total of 19,02,009 voters are eligible to vote, comprising 9,58,595 men, 9,43,364 women and 50 third-gender voters. Fifteen candidates are contesting the by-election.
The contest includes BJP’s Sharma, Congress candidate Sibamoni Bora and AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal. Sharma, a former Nagaon district commissioner, took voluntary retirement from government service before entering electoral politics. Bora is a former legislator from the now-redrawn Batadroba constituency, while Ajmal is the sitting MLA from Binnakandi and is seeking a return to the Lok Sabha.
The by-election was necessitated after Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi resigned from the Lok Sabha seat and subsequently joined the BJP before winning the Dispur Assembly constituency.
The Nagaon and Morigaon district administrations have deployed 9,664 polling personnel for the election. Monitoring arrangements include 86 micro-observers, 69 Flying Squad Teams and 69 Static Surveillance Teams. Webcasting has also been arranged at all polling stations.
The bypoll is being conducted across the two districts amid security and administrative arrangements aimed at ensuring smooth polling. Voting is scheduled to conclude at 5 pm.
