Guwahati:

Assam will witness direct and triangular contests in five constituencies in the three-phased first round of Lok Sabha polls to decide the fate of 35 candidates, including Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal Sonowal).

Polling in Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Kaziranga, Sonitpur and Lakhimpur will begin at 7 am and end at 5 pm.

A total of 86,47,869 voters, including 43,64,859 women voters (over 42,82,887 male voters) and 123 third gender voters, are eligible to exercise their franchise at 10,001 polling stations.

The voting will be held under heavy security, with 60 companies of security forces deployed in five constituencies.

The Bharatiya Janata Party contested all five seats, the Congress contested four seats, the Assam BJP contested one seat, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) contested two seats, the All India Congress Party and the Communist Party of India contested (Horse) each ran for one seat.

In Jorhat, Kaziranga and Lakhimpur, direct competition is likely to take place between the BJP and the Congress, while in Dibrugarh and Sonitpur, the ruling party, Congress, BJP There could be a triangular fight between the party and the DAP.

The prestigious Dibrugarh constituency has three candidates including Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Member of Parliament, United Opposition Forum, Assam Candidate Lurinjyoti Gogoi and Manoj Dhanowar of the Aam Aadmi Party.

In Jorhat, four candidates are in the fray, with Gaurav Gogoi, deputy leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, facing off against sitting BJP MP Topon Gogoi.

Gogoi had to shift the constituency from Kaliabor to Jorhat, which had been renamed Kaziranga after the delimitation exercise in the state last year.

In Kaziranga, the BJP’s federal assembly member Kamakhya Prasad Tasa is in direct competition with former MP Roselina Tirkey. All candidates belong to the tea workers community.

Kaziranga has the highest number of 11 candidates in the race.

In Sonitpur, which was also renamed from the earlier Tezpur after delimitation, there are eight nominees, likely to be named among BJP MP Ranjit Dutta, There is a triangular contest between Congress candidate Prem Lal Ganju and AAP’s Rishiraj Kaundinya.

There are nine contestants from Lakhimpur, the most prominent of whom are BJP MP Pradan Baruah and Congress MP Uday Shankar Hazarika.

Assam Chief Electoral Officer Anurag Goel said that all arrangements have been made to conduct voting in a free, fair, safe and peaceful manner.

He said that as per the directives of the Election Commission, real-time monitoring and webcasting will be provided at all 5,509 polling stations.

Of the 10,001 polling stations in the first phase, 92 are model polling stations, 11 are polling stations managed by persons with disabilities, and 752 are polling stations managed by women.

A total of 40,004 polling and presiding personnel will be employed and Ballot Units (BU), Control Units (CU) and VVPAT will be activated.

Officials said minimum assurance facilities (AMF) such as drinking water, adequate furniture, waiting sheds, toilets, lighting, crèche, signage and ramps will be provided at all polling stations.

In addition, the booth also arranged transportation facilities for the elderly, volunteer assistance, wheelchair supply, etc.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)