Estimated 72 pc votes cast in Assam

An estimated 72 per cent of the 64.4 lakh voters exercised their franchise peacefully in five Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam sealing the electoral fate of 51 contestants, including two union ministers in the first phase.
Election office sources said that the exact percentage would be available at night as thousands of people were still standing in queues when voting ended at 5 pm.
Tezpur recorded 73 per cent voting, Jorhat 75 per cent, Lakhimpur 67, Dibrugarh 70 and Koliabor 72 per cent, the sources said.
Prominent contestants whose fates were sealed in EVMS were union ministers and Congress nominees Paban Singh Ghatowar (Dibrugarh) and Ranee Narah (Lakhimpur), besides former union minister and sitting Congress MP Bijoy Krishna Handique (Jorhat).

Others were Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi's son Gaurav Gogoi (Koliabor), Congress rebel and Independent candidate Moni Kumar Subba and BJP state unit president Sabananda Sonowal (Lakhimpur).
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, his wife Dolly Gogoi and their son and Koliabor constituency Congress candidate Gaurav Gogoi cast their votes in Jorhat.
New voters in the 18-19 age group from among the first-time 6.5 lakh electorate came out in large numbers to choose their representatives.