*Assam Assembly Bypolls: 71.1% Voter Turnout Recorded in Five Constituencies

Over 71% of voters cast ballots in 5 Assam Lok Sabha constituencies. Darrang-Udalguri saw the highest turnout of 73.22%, while Silchar had the lowest at 65.57%. 61 candidates are contesting, including ministers and sitting MPs. The final voter turnout will be available on Saturday. The second phase of polls was peaceful, with no untoward incidents reported.

An estimated 71.11 per cent of 77.26 lakh voters exercised their franchise till the end of polling in five Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam on Friday, election officials said.

The final voter turnout, however, will be available on Saturday, they said.

No untoward incident was reported as polling, which began at 7 am, ended peacefully at 5 pm.

Darrang-Udalguri seat recorded the highest turnout of 73.22 per cent, followed by 72.80 per cent in Diphu, 71.88 per cent in Nagaon, 71.12 per cent in Karimganj, and 65.57 per cent in Silchar, they said.

Sixty-one candidates are in the fray in this phase.

State Transport Minister Parimal Suklabaidya is pitted against Surya Kanta Sarkar of the Congress in Silchar, while BJP's Amarsing Tisso is contesting against Congress's Joyram Engleng in Diphu.

Nagaon's sitting Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi is contesting against BJP's Suresh Bora, while Karimganj's BJP MP Kripanath Malla is pitted against Congress's Hafiz Ahmed Rashid Choudhury.

In Darrang-Udalguri, the main contest is between BJP MP Dilip Saikia and former Congress MP Madhab Rajbongshi.

Altogether 77,26,668 voters, including 38,61,559 women and 179 persons of third gender, were eligible to exercise their franchise at 9,133 polling stations, of which 1,220 were identified as 'critical'.

There were 906 urban and 8,227 rural booths, while 473 were managed by women, 12 by persons with disabilities (PwD) and there were also 90 model polling stations.

More than 36,000 polling officials and around 40,000 security personnel were deployed during the second phase of polling.

In the first phase polls held on April 19, 78.25 per cent turnout was recorded in Kaziranga, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Sonitpur and Lakhimpur constituencies.