GUWAHATI, April 12 - The city recorded an unprecedented and all-time high voter turnout of over 81 per cent during yesterday�s polling for the Legislative Assembly elections.
Final Election Commission data released today showed that the four Legislative Assembly Constituencies (LACs) located in the city � Jalukbari, Dispur, Guwahati East and Guwahati West � have recorded a total turnout of 81.11 per cent.
The average turnout of male voters in the four LACs stands at 81.83 per cent and that of female voters at 80.38 per cent.
Of the total 10,05,454 voters in the city (including 5,09,745 male and 4,95,709 female), a total of 8,15,539 exercised their franchise during yesterday�s polls. Of those who turned up to vote on election day, 4,17,104 were male voters and 3,98,435 were female voters.
Jalukbari LAC recorded an impressive overall turnout of 85.18 per cent (85.94 per cent among male electorate and 84.41 per cent among female electorate).
The final turnout in Guwahati West LAC stood at 81.24 per cent (82.14 per cent male and 80.31 per cent female).
It was overall 80.09 per cent in Dispur LAC (80.65 per cent among male voters and 79.52 per cent among female voters).
Guwahati East LAC recorded a turnout of 79.21 per cent (79.96 per cent among male electorate and 78.44 per cent among female electorate).
Officials said it was the highest ever turnout in the city, even surpassing the turnout seen during the 1985 Assembly polls.
There were 1,113 polling stations in the city, including eight model polling stations and eight all-women polling stations. Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) was used in all the four constituencies.
Commenting on the high voter turnout, Dr M Angamuthu, District Election Officer of Kamrup Metro said, �Kamrup Metro district recorded the highest ever voter turnout in the city�s election history. There was great participation of various sections of voters, including first-time voters, senior citizens, women and differently challenged voters.�
A total of 49 candidates are in the fray from the four constituencies in the city. While 10 candidates are fighting it out for the Jalukbari seat, 14 are contesting from Dispur, 12 from Guwahati East and 13 from Guwahati West.
The Congress has put up candidates in all the four constituencies, while the BJP is contesting in three of the seats. The AGP, CPI (M) and NCP are in the fray in one seat each.
Among the prominent candidates in the fray from the four constituencies are former minister and BJP strongman Himanta Biswa Sarma from Jalukbari, former minister Akon Bora from Dispur, BJP leader Atul Bora from Dispur, MLA Hemanta Talukdar from Guwahati West, BJP leader Siddhartha Bhattacharya from Guwahati East, Congress candidate Bobbeeta Sharma from Guwahati East and AGP leader RN Kalita from Guwahati West.
