Assam bypoll: 66 percent voters cast ballot (Third lead)

The bypoll to Assam's three assembly constituencies Saturday recorded over 66 percent voter turnout till 5 p.m. even as balloting continued in some polling stations.

Polling was peaceful across the three constituencies of Silchar, Lakhipur and Jamunamukh.

Assam Deputy Chief Electoral Officer P.K. Doley said the overall turnout was 66.67 percent till 5 p.m.

"The final percentage will increase as we are awaiting the final reports from some polling stations, where balloting continued beyond 5 p.m.," he said.

Technical snags in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were reported from two polling stations in Silchar and one polling station in Lakhipur.

In Jamunamukh, EVM snags were reported from two polling stations.

Those, however, were replaced and polling started after some time, Doley said.

The bypoll for Silchar was necessitated after Congress legislator Sushmita Dev's election to the Lok Sabha.

The Lakhipur seat fell vacant after the death of sitting legislator and former minister Dinesh Prasad Goala, while the Jamunamukh seat was vacated by AIUDF leader Sirajuddin Ajmal after he got elected to the Lok Sabha from Barpeta.

As many as 25 candidates are in the fray - 12 in Silchar, five in Lakhipur and eight in Jamunamukh.

A total of 509,689 electors, including 244,543 women, were eligible to cast their votes in 588 polling stations.

While there were 206,573 voters in Silchar, including 101,686 females, there were 137,398 electors, including 65,598 women, in Lakhipur.

In Jamunamukh, there were 165,718 voters of which 77,259 were women.

There were also 1,456 service voters in the three assembly constituencies.

The Election Commission had identified 116 polling stations as hyper-sensitive. A total of 16 additional companies of security forces were deployed to ensure smooth polls.