Voting temporarily halted due to EVM malfunction in Assam's Silchar, Nagaon

Voting for the second and penultimate phase of Assam assembly elections on Thursday was temporarily stopped at polling stations at Silchar and Nagaon due to EVM malfunctions.

In Silchar, the polling station number 146 at Nirtamoyee Balika Vidyalaya reported the malfunction, while the breakdown in Nagaon was reported at polling station number 26 at Nowgong Law College.

Polling for the second and penultimate phase of Assam Assembly polls began at 7 am on Thursday to decide the fate of 345 candidates in 39 constituencies across 13 districts.

The main contest is seen to be between the alliances led by BJP and Congress.

The BJP-led alliance also includes the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People's Party Liberal (UPPL). The election in the second phase includes 15 assembly seats in the Barak Valley. In the 2016 polls, BJP had bagged eight seats - six from Cachar district and two from bordering Karimganj district, which shares a boundary with Bangladesh.

Over 73.44 lakh voters are eligible to cast their votes in the second phase of the election. Of them, 37,34,537 are male voters and 36,09,959 are female voters, while 135 are third gender voters.

Voting will be held on 8,998 polling stations and 556 of them are all-women polling stations.