Second phase of polling starts in Assam

Guwahati, April 18 (IANS) The second phase of polling for five constituencies got underway in Assam at 7 a.m. on Thursday along with the rest of the country, officials said.Polls will be held across 8,992 polling centres set up across five Lok Sabha constituencies including Nowgong, Autonomous District (Diphu), Mangaldai, SIlchar and Karimganj constituencies.The polling will continue till 5 p.m., officials added.Officials said that a total of 35,968 polling personnel have been deployed under phase two of the polls to ensure that everyone can cast their votes freely.A total of 69,10,592 electorate including 33,55,952 women and 180 belonging to third gender are likely to exercise their voting right on Thursday. There are a total of 50 candidates including 18 Independents in the fray for the five Lok Sabha constituencies that are going to polls on the second phase, officials said.The 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam are going to polls in three phases. On April 11, polling was held in five Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam -- Tezpur, Kaliabar, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur, while four other constituencies -- Dhubri, Barpeta, Kokrajhar and Guwahati will go to polls on April 23.
--IANS ah/pgh/