Guwahati : Over 9.4 million people are eligible to exercise their franchise in the third and final phase of the Lok Sabha polls in Assam Thursday.
A total of 74 candidates are in the fray for the six constituencies of Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Barpeta, Gauhati, Mangaldai and Nagaona.
The first phase of Assam polls were held April 7 when five constituencies saw balloting. The first phase recorded 78.72 percent polling in Tezpur, Jorhat, Kaliabor, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur.
The second phase of polling, which included the constituencies Silchar, Karimganj and Diphu (Autonomous Council) , took place April 12. It witnessed over 75 percent of polling, election officials said.
There are 15 candidates in the Dhubri constituency, while a total of six candidates are in Kokrajhar .
In Barpeta, there are 15 candidates this time. As many as 18 candidates are in Guwahati, 12 candidates in Mangaldai and eight candidates in Nowgong.
Statistics show 1,550,118 electorate, including 754,045 females, are eligible to cast their votes in Dhubri. In Kokrajhar, there are 1,503,176 voters, including 730,582 women.
In Barpeta, there are 1,424,638 eligible voters while in Guwahati, a total of 1,921,374 eligible voters include 933,692 women.
Mangaldai has 1,513,059 voters, and Nowgong has 1,509,612 voters including 7,25,033 females. Mangaldai is seeing a contest between BJP’s sitting MP Ramen Deka and Congress’ old war horse Kirip Chaliha.
In Dhubri there is a straight fight between sitting MP and All India United Democratic Front chief Badaruddin Ajmal and Congress candidate Wazed Ali Choudhury, while Kokrajhar is seeing a multi-cornered contest between Chandan Brahma (BPF), Naba Kumar Sarania (Independent), Urkhao Gwra Brahma (Independent) and former Meghalaya governor R.S. Mooshahary (Trinamool Congress).
Barpeta is likely to see a fight between AIUDF candidate Siraj Uddin Ajmal and sitting Congress MP Ismail Hussain, BJP’s Chandra Mohan Patowary and AGP’s Phani Bhushan Choudhury.
In Guwahati, it is a fight between sitting BJP MP Bijoya Chakraborty and Congress candidate Manas Bora. AGP’s Birendra Prasad Baishya is also likely to give a tough fight in the constituency.
In Nowgong, a strong bastion of the BJP, the main contest is between sitting BJP MP Rajen Gohain, Jonjonali Baruah of the Congress and AIUDF’s Aditya Langthasa.