Around three mn to vote in Assam Saturday (Curtain Raiser - Election Special)

Over 2.9 million people will Saturday exercise their democratic right to elect three members to the Lok Sabha from Assam.

Polling will be held for three Lok Sabha constituencies - Silchar, Karimganj and Diphu (Autonomous District). In the first phase April 7, polls were held for five Lok Sabha constituencies from the state.

While Karimganj is reserved for the Schedule Castes, Diphu (Autonomous District) is reserved for the Scheduled Tribes.

There are 37 candidates in the fray for the second phase of polls.

A total of 29,26,762 electors, including 14,00,594 females, are expected to cast their votes at 3,698 polling stations across the three constituencies.

Silchar has 17 candidates, including seven Independents, in fray. The BJP's current MP Kabindra Purkayastha, Congress legislator Sushmita Deb from the Silchar assembly constituency, who is the daughter of veteran Congress leader and former union minister Santosh Mohan Deb, and Kutub Ahmed Mazumder of the AIUDF are the major contestants.

In Karimganj, there are 15 candidates in the fray, including eight Independents. While the BJP has nomi9nated Krishna Das, the Congress has fielded Lok Sabha member Lalit Mohan Suklabaidya, and the AIUDF has pitted Radheshyam Biswas.

There are five candidates for the Diphu constituency, including the Congress's sitting member Biren Singh Engti and the BJP's Joyram Engleng.

Of the 37 candidates contesting the polls, six are crorepatis.

The richest among them is Sushmita Dev, with total assets worth Rs.8.75 crore as per her affidavit to the Election Commission.

Engti, who is fighting from Diphu, has total assets worth Rs.3.5 crore. His main rival, the BJP's Joyram Engleng is the third richest with Rs.2.2 crore.

The other three crorepatis are the Asom Gana Parishad's Rabindra Nath Choudhury (Karimganj) with Rs.1.5 crore, Congress's Suklabaidya (Karimganj) with Rs.1.13 crore, and the AGP's Bijoy Krishna Nath (Silchar) with total assets worth Rs.1.1 crore.