Phase II polling for 61 Assam assembly seats on Monday (Curtain Raiser)

Over one crore voters will exercise their franchise in the second phase of polling in Assam for the 61 assembly seats on Monday and decide the fate of 525 candidates in the fray.

The polling will be held from 7 a.m. till 5 p.m. at 12,699 polling stations in the 61 constituencies spread across 13 districts.

Of the total 1,04,35,277 voters eligible to cast their ballot in the second phase, 50,44,051 are women. Of the 525 candidates in fray, only 48 are women.

Some prominent candidates include former Assam chief minister and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) candidate Prafulla Kumar Mahanta (Barhampur), Moulana Badaruddin Ajmal (AIUDF, Salmara South), Agriculture Minister Rockybul Hussain (Congress, Samaguri), Himanta Biswa Sarma (BJP, Jalukbari) and former Assam BJP president Siddhartha Bhattacharyya (Guwahati East).

Among the 525 candidates, 57 are from the Congress, 47 from the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), 35 from the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP), 19 from the AGP, five from the Communist Party of India, nine from the Communist Party of India-Marxist, 10 from Bodoland Peoples Front, and 129 candidates from smaller or unregistered parties.

The Congress has fielded six women candidates, AIUDF two, BJP four, the CPI-M one and BPF one. Fifteen women nominees are from smaller and unregistered parties.

A total of 214 candidates, including 19 women, are contesting as Independents in various constituencies, poll officials said.

During the first phase of peaceful polling for 65 assembly constituencies on April 4, 82.20 percent of the eligible voters exercised their franchise.