Voter Turnout Insights from Nagaon Lok Sabha Bypoll
Polling Update from Nagaon
A polling booth at Pub Xalmara LP School under 61 No. Raha Assembly constituency. (AT Photo)
Guwahati, Oct 6: By 11 am on Tuesday, Laharighat achieved the highest voter turnout of 42.49% in the Nagaon Lok Sabha bypoll, with 37.82% of the 19.05 lakh registered voters participating in the largely peaceful election.
Following closely was Samaguri with a turnout of 40.39%, while Rupahihat saw 39.62% of voters casting their ballots, as per the preliminary data from the Election Commission.
Dhing recorded a turnout of 38.48%, with Jagiroad at 37.06%, Morigaon at 37.25%, and Raha at 34.35%.
Among the eight Assembly segments, Nagaon-Batadraba had the lowest turnout at 30.54%.
“The polling process has been smooth so far, with no incidents reported from any polling station across the eight assembly segments in the constituency. The initial two hours saw a voting percentage of 17.68,” stated a polling official.
Polling commenced at 7 am, although there were reports of technical issues with electronic voting machines (EVMs) in Morigaon and Raha.
At polling station No. 72 in East Sidhabari, Morigaon, an EVM malfunction occurred after five votes were cast, causing a queue of voters while officials addressed the issue.
In Raha, polling was briefly halted at Shewguri Primary School due to a technical snag in the EVM after 45 votes had been recorded, with officials working to fix the problem at the time of this report.
Morigaon District Commissioner and District Election Officer Srishti Singh has been actively monitoring polling stations since early morning to ensure proper arrangements and oversee the voting process.
She was joined by Additional District Commissioners Rakesh Deka and Dr. Nilakhi Baishya.
BJP candidate Devashis Sharma, a former IAS officer, cast his vote at Mayong Higher Secondary School in the Jagiroad Assembly constituency. “It’s an unusual feeling. I felt a bit emotional seeing the button with my name on it,” he remarked to the media after voting.
Congress candidate Sibamoni Borah voted at Majgaon Primary School in the Nagaon-Batadraba Assembly segment. After voting, she expressed optimism about a Congress victory, stating, “We will win. It’s hard to predict the margin right now, but we will win,” she told reporters.
The Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency has a total of 19.05 lakh eligible voters, which includes 9.43 lakh women and 50 voters from the third gender. Voting is taking place across 2,312 polling stations, including five auxiliary booths.
Vote counting is set for October 9. As polling continues throughout the day, turnout trends and the status of EVM-related issues are likely to change as more voters participate.