Elections 2019: After 2 hours of polling, voter turnout highest in Assa

Pic courtesy/Twitter/ANI

New Delhi: At the end of the first two hours of polling, Assam is leading in terms of voter turnout with 9.51 per cent electorates having already exercised their democratic franchise. In Chhattisgarh, voters have braved the threats of Naxals and have come out in large numbers to cast votes in three constituencies which are voting today. The turnout at 9 am has been recorded at 7.75 per cent, according to data provided by the Election Commission.

In Bihar, voter turnout has touched 7.83 per cent in the first two hours, while Uttar Pradesh, which has eight constituencies going to polls today, has clocked 3.99 per cent voting till 9 am.

Among other states going to polls, voter turnout in the first two hours in Odisha is 2.15 per cent, Manipur 1.78 per cent, Karnataka 1.14 per cent, Jammu and Kashmir 0.99 per cent, Tamil Nadu 0.81 per cent, West Bengal 0.55 per cent, Maharashtra 0.85 per cent and Puducherry 1.62 per cent.

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The second the phase of polling is being held in Assam (five seats), Bihar (five seats), Chhattisgarh (three seats), Jammu and Kashmir (two seats), Karnataka (14 seats), Maharashtra (10 seats), Manipur (one seat), Odisha (five seats), Tamil Nadu (38 seats), Uttar Pradesh (eight seats), West Bengal (three seats), and Union Territory Puducherry (one seat). Besides Tamil Nadu, polling is being held in 14 seats in Karnataka, 10 in Maharashtra, eight in Uttar Pradesh, five each in Assam, Bihar and Odisha, three each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, two in Jammu and Kashmir and one seat each in Manipur and Puducherry.

A 104-year-old woman, Saraguna Bibi, is all set to cast her vote in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Bibi, a resident of Assam's Hailakandi district, has never missed exercising her right to vote. Her son Badruddin Barbhuiya says, "She casts her vote every time and asks us to do the same. I will be taking her to the polling booth."

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Bibi will cast her vote in the Karimganj parliamentary constituency. In Karimganj, another centenarian, 116-year-old Mahamud Ali is also looking forward to exercise his franchise. Ali, who is a freedom fighter, said: "I will definitely go to cast my vote. I also appeal to young voters to come out and vote. A lot of things have changed but there is still a long way to go."

"Even after Independence, people living in this area used to die of starvation. But situations have changed now. It is because of this democracy that we do not have hunger and poverty like those times," he said. Karimganj will go to polls in the second phase on Thursday.

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Edited by mid-day online desk with inputs from Agencies