70% polling in Assam bypoll

Nearly 70% polling was recorded in the peaceful bye-election for three seats of Assam Assembly today to decide the fate of 25 contestants in Silchar, Lakhipur and Jamunamukh. Jamunamukh in Nagaon district witnessed over 74% polling, while Silchar and Lakhipur in Cachar district saw 63 % and 66 % voting respectively, Election Commission officials said.

Officials said re-polling may be held in three polling booths each in Silchar and Lakhipur constituencies due to malfunctioning of electronic voting machines. Arun Dutta Majumdar (Congress), Dilip Kumar Paul (BJP) and Nur Ahmed Barbhuyan (AIUDF) are the prominent contestants among 12 in Silchar, while former Congress MLA Dinesh Prasad Goala's son Rajdeep Goala (Cong), Mukesh Pandey (AIUDF) and Sanjay Thakur (BJP) are notables among eight contestants in Lakhipur.

Jamunamukh has AIUDF president Badruddin Ajmal's son Abdur Rahim Ajmal, Bashir Uddin Laskar (Cong) and Bilal Uddin (BJP), besides two others in the fray. The bye-election was necessitated following the election of Silchar Congress MLA Sushmita Dev and Jamunamukh AIUDF MLA Mohammad Sirajuddin Ajmal to the Lok Sabha during the last general polls. The death of sitting Congress MLA Dinesh Prasad Goala necessitated bypoll in Lakhipur. Counting of votes will be held on September 16.