Guwahati, April 25 /–/ The second phase of parliamentary elections in five seats of Assam on Friday is poised to see participation of a substantial number of young and old voters.
“As many as 34,548 voters are in the age category of 85-years and above, of which 862 voters are above 100 years of age. Besides, 1,21,769 voters are first-time voters in the age group of 18 to 19 years,” Assam chief electoral officer (CEO) Anurag Goel informed while addressing a media conference here on the eve of the second phase Lok Sabha polls in Assam
As it is, the fate of 61 candidates for five Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam – Darrang-Udalguri, Diphu, Karimganj, Silchar and Nagaon – will be sealed in electronic voting machines (EVMs) on Friday. Among the candidates, 59 are male while two are female.
“An electorate of 77,0 9276, (of which 3878667 are male, 38,30439 female and 170 third gender voters), are eligible to exercise their franchise in the second phase across 9133 polling stations. Besides, there will be 61548 PwD (persons with disabilities) voters, 15683 visually-impaired voters and 17392 service (armed forces, CAPF, etc) voters,” the CEO said.
It may be noted that there will be an average of 844.11 electors per polling station during the second phase polls in Assam.
“Among the polling stations, 906 (10 percent) are located in urban areas while 8227 are in rural areas. Of them, 473 are women-managed polling stations, 90 are model polling stations with all facilities, 12 polling stations are managed by PwD personnel while webcasting facilities will be available in 4745 polling stations,” Goel said.
The CEO also informed that till 3pm on Thursday, 7268 polling personnel had already left for their respective polling stations.
As many as 10793 ballot units (BUs), 9133 control units and 9133 VVPAT machines will be used in the second phase polls in the state.
“Only 1.6 percent ballot units (BU), 3.38 control units (CU) and 5.47 percent VVPAT machines were replaced in the first phase. In the same vein, we have taken adequate measures for replacement of Bus, CUs and VVPATs to ensure there is no machine shortage in the second phase as well,” he said.
Meanwhile, to ensure that the second phase polls are held in a free, fair and safe manner, 143 companies of security forces have been deployed in the second phase election districts.
“The security forces have been deployed based on the sensitivity analysis done by state police nodal officers and district general and police officers,” the CEO said, while adding that micro-observers would also be present during the polls.
On the other hand, EVM-carrying vehicles have been equipped with GPS so that vehicle movement could be tracked.
In the second phase, Karimganj, covering 3136 square kilometres, is the smallest Lok Sabha constituency in terms of area, but has the highest number of candidates at 24.
Conversely, Diphu (ST) parliamentary constituency, covering 18357 square kilometres, is the largest in terms of area, but only five candidates are in the fray, which is the lowest during the phase.