Higher turnout in constituencies with heavier concentration of minority voters
GUWAHATI, April 25 - Even as the turnout of voters in the State reached an all-time in the Lok Sabha elections this time, the constituencies with heavier concentration of minority community voters recorded higher percentages of polling as compared to the seats in upper Assam where the number of electorate from the minority segment are comparatively fewer.
Among the 14 constituencies of Assam, the highest polling of 90.66 per cent was recorded in Dhubri, followed by Barpeta which saw a turnout of 86.60 per cent.
It is noteworthy that both Dhubri and Barpeta constituencies are minority-dominated.
Mangaldoi recorded a voter turnout of 83.60 per cent, while Nagaon witnessed polling of 83.24 per cent. Both these seats have substantial numbers of voters from the minority community.
In addition, the voter turnout in Kokrajhar stood at 83.16 per cent, while it was 82.09 per cent in Kaliabor, 80.81 per cent in Guwahati, 79.40 per cent in Silchar, 79.14 per cent in Tezpur, 79.08 per cent in Karimganj, 77.49 per cent in Jorhat, 77.47 per cent in Autonomous District (Diphu), 77.26 per cent in Dibrugarh, and 75.05 per cent in Lakhimpur.
The percentage of minorities out of the total electorate is fewer in seats like Tezpur, Lakhimpur, Jorhat, Diphu and Dibrugarh as compared to the constituencies of the Barak Valley, central Assam and lower Assam.
Meanwhile, the turnout figures in as many as 11 out of the 14 seats of Assam were more during the parliamentary polls this time as compared to the previous Lok Sabha elections held in 2014.
Polling percentage went up in Tezpur, Kaliabor, Karimganj, Silchar, Diphu, Mangaldoi, Nagaon, Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Barpeta and Guwahati constituencies this time compared to the turnout in 2014.
On the other hand, in three constituencies of upper Assam � Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur � the voter turnout this time was lower than the figures recorded in 2014.
The voter turnout in Karimganj constituency was 76.14 per cent in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, while it was 75.46 per cent in Silchar, 77.43 per cent in Diphu, 88.36 per cent in Dhubri, 81.32 per cent in Kokrajhar, 84.40 per cent in Barpeta, 78.67 per cent in Guwahati, 81.38 per cent in Mangaldoi, 77.87 per cent in Tezpur, 80.75 per cent in Nagaon, 80.11 per cent in Kaliabor, 78.32 per cent in Jorhat, 79.26 per cent in Dibrugarh and 77.75 per cent in Lakhimpur constituency.
Assam recorded an all-time high overall turnout of 81.52 per cent in the Lok Sabha elections this time. The polling percentage among male voters in the State stood at 81.73 per cent, while it was 81.30 per cent among the female voters and 4.89 per cent among the electorate belonging to the �third gender�.
