Assam goes to Phase- III poll tomorrow

Assam goes to poll tomorrow in its third and last phase to elect four candidates from the 54 that are left in the fray with the ruling coalition of NDA making a final push to win more than one seat in the Muslim infested lower Assam Lok Sabha seats.

All the polling officials have left to the respective polling booths as the polling will take place at 7 AM in the morning. There are 9577 total number of polling booths for 74.77 lakh total voters.

Out of the 4 LS constituencies, there will be a straight fight in Guwahati, Triangular fight in Barpeta and Dhubri and four-cornered fight in Kokrajhar. In Guwahati, there are 17 candidates contesting, 15 candidates in Dhubri, 13 candidates contesting in Barpeta and 9 candidates in Kokrajhar district.

In  Assam, 74 lakh voters will decide the political fate of the 54 candidates in this phase. Guwahati, Barpeta, Dhubri and Kokrajhar parliamentary constituencies will be covered in this phase.

In Guwahati, there will be a special provision for two ballot units. Names of 16 candidates along with NOTA has been registered in one unit and the other has one. It may be noted that there will two ballot units along with an EVM in every polling station in Guwahati constituency. There will be 12 ideal voting booths in Guwahati.

In Maniram Dewan Trade Centre, the huge rush is being seen as polling officers and presiding officers franchises their respective votes via postal votes. The booths are getting ready to welcome voters and their arrangements are in full swing for the election that is scheduled to take place tomorrow.

The BJP is confident of winning at least 10 of the 14 seats but their strength is limited in this phase as two of the four Lok Sabha seats are being contested by their junior partner AGP.  The AGP is contesting both Dhubri and Barpeta where they are locked in three corner contest.

However, all eyes are in the prestigious Guwahati seat where BJP's Queen Ojha is contesting against Bobeeta Sharma of Congress. With 22 lakh voters, this is the largest Lok Sabha constituencies of Assam/.

Meanwhile, the state has arranged for elaborate security arrangements for the third phase of polling. The senior police official said adequate forces have been deployed in all the polling centres. The official said state borders have been sealed to prevent the transportation of any illegal or prohibitive items like liquor or weapons. Also, intense checking of private and public vehicles are also been conducted.