Voting commenced on Friday morning across seven Lok Sabha seats in the northeast region of India, marked by stringent security measures. The electoral battleground spans five seats in Assam, one in Tripura, and a portion of one seat in strife-torn Manipur. In Assam, a total of 77,26,668 voters are poised to determine the fate of 61 candidates vying for seats in Diphu, Nagaon, Silchar, Karimganj, and Darrang-Udalguri. Voters were observed queuing up outside polling stations well before the 7 am official start time, with voting scheduled to continue until 5 pm, allowing those in line before closure to cast their ballots.
Assam’s Chief Electoral Officer, Anurag Goel, emphasized the deployment of 143 companies of security forces across the five seats to ensure smooth and peaceful voting. The state boasts 9,133 polling booths for the electoral process. The significance of Muslim voters, particularly in Nagaon and Karimganj, holds sway over this phase’s outcome. In Nagaon, incumbent Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi faces a formidable challenge from BJP’s Suresh Bora, amidst a triangular contest involving Aminul Islam of the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF).
In Manipur, heightened security measures aim to prevent a recurrence of violence and electoral malpractices witnessed during the first phase of voting on April 19. With 87 companies of central armed security forces and around 4,000 state police personnel deployed, stringent measures are in place across the state’s 13 assembly segments. Tripura’s East Tripura constituency also heads to polls in the second phase, with 13,96,761 eligible voters spread across 1,664 polling centers. Notably, a new polling booth has been established in South Tripura for Bru migrants. The main contest in this constituency is between ruling BJP candidate Kriti Devi Debbarma and opposition INDIA alliance candidate Rajendra Reang, a former CPI(M) MLA.
