Voting in the assembly by-election in Assam's Dhemaji constituency passed off peacefully on Sunday, with 66.97 per cent of the electorate casting vote, an election official said.
"The overall voter turnout for the by-election to the Dhemaji assembly constituency recorded was 66.97 per cent," Dhemaji Returning Officer Roshni Aparanji Korati told IANS over phone.
The by-election was necessitated after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Pradan Baruah contested and won as Member of Parliament from the Lakhimpur constituency that Sarbananda Sonowal vacated after winning the Majuli assembly seat. Sonowal was sworn in as the first BJP Chief Minister of Assam on May 24 last year.
Korati said polling started at 7 a.m. and ended at 4.30 p.m. No untoward incident was reported, barring a technical glitch in one Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), which was immediately replaced.
She said the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines were used in polls for the first time in the state.
Adequate security forces had been deployed to ensure free and fair poll, Korati said, adding that 20 polling stations had been marked as "very sensitive" and 141 others as "sensitive".
Men and women in large numbers queued up in front of the 273 polling stations well before voting began at 7 a.m. despite a spell of heavy rain, Korati said. The total electorate in the constituency is 2,19,751.
Five candidates were in the fray but the main contest was between ruling BJP candidate Ranoj Pegu and Congress party nominee Babul Sonowal.
The other three candidates were Communist Party of India-Marxist's Jadu Hazarika, Socialist Unity Centre of India-Communist's Hem Kanta Miri and Independent Rajkumar Doley.
In the 126-members Assam Assembly, the BJP has 60 members, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) 14 and the Bodoland People's Front (BPF) 12.
The opposition Congress has 26 members, All India United Democratic Front 13 and there is one Independent.
The Counting of votes will be held on April 13.
--IANS
ah/rn
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