Guwahati/Agartala: Update: 4 pm: Assam registers 64 per cent polling till 4 pm. Polling is officially over in most centres but it is still on in places where long queues were registered.
3 pm: Till 3 pm, 60 per cent voting in Assam and 74 per cent voter turnout in Tripura has been recorded.
12 noon: 35 per cent voter turnout in Assam and 41 per cent in Tripura till noon.
10 am: Both Assam and Tripura saw high voter turnout in the first few hours of polling for the Lok Sabha elections on Monday. In Assam, over 25 per cent of the 64,41,634 voters exercised their franchise during the first three hours of polling, while in Tripura, over 15 per cent voters cast their vote till 9 am.
Assam: With polling beginning at 7 am, Tezpur recorded 20 per cent, Jorhat 22 per cent, Lakhimpur 25 per cent, Dibrugarh 20 per cent and Koliabor 30 per cent votes till 10 am, election office sources said.
Polling has been peaceful so far.
There were reports of EVMs malfunctioning in Dibrugarh, Kaliabor, Tezpur and Lakhimpur constituencies. The machines were later replaced and voting continued uninterrupted, the sources said.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, his wife as well as his son and Koliabor constituency Congress candidate Gaurav Gogoi cast their vote in Jorhat, while Union Minister and contestants Paban Singh Ghatowar and Ranee Narah also exercised their franchise in Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur constituencies, respectively.
Former Union Minister and sitting MP Bijoy Krishna Handique, contesting as Congress nominee from Jorhat, also cast his vote with his family members.
With 6.5 lakh first time voters registered this time, long queues were seen in front of the polling booths.
Most of the early morning voters were women who said they wanted to cast their ballot before they get busy in household chores for the day.
The Congress, BJP, Trinamool Congress, AIUDF, AGP, AAP, SUCI, CPI(M), AIFB and SP are contesting in the five seats during the first phase of elections in the Congress-ruled state.
The state election office was webcasting the election process in each polling station.
Among the 51 candidates are Union Ministers Ranee Narah and Paban Singh Ghatowar, sitting MP Bijoy Krishna Handique, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi's son Gourav Gogoi and Bhupen Kumar Bora from the Congress.
Congress rebel and Independent candidate Moni Kumar Subba is also in the fray.
For the BJP, its unit president Sorbananda Sonowal and Kamakhya Prasad Tasa are contesting, while AGP's nominees are Arun Kumar Sarma, Pradip Hazarika and Joseph Toppo.
An electorate of 64,41,634, including 31,20,067 women, are expected to exercise their franchise at 8,588 polling stations.
For the first time in the Northeast region and the third time in the country after Kashmir and Bihar, all polling booths have been declared smoking free.
Security measures have been tightened for the polls with additional companies of security forces, including CRPF, deployed.
The next phase of the polls will be held on April 12 for three Lok Sabha seats.
Tripura: About 15 per cent votes were cast within two hours of voting in Tripura West Lok Sabha constituency, where polling began at 7 am on Monday.
Of the two constituencies - Tripura West and Tripura East (ST), election is being held in Tripura West constituency on Monday where about 15 per cent voters exercised their franchise till 9 am, sources in the state Election department said.
People were seen standing in long queues much before polling began in front of the booths in the capital city.
Senior citizens, including women, were seen standing in the queues. While male voters outnumbered female voters in the state capital and other towns, women were more in number in tribal compact areas like Mandai and Burakha.
Tribal women dressed in traditional attire had lined up before the booths. Tea shops and snack vendors were doing brisk business.
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, BJP candidate and President of the party Sudhindra Dasgupta, state secretary of CPI-M Bijan Dhar, Congress Candidate and former Vice-Chancellor Arunoday Saha, TMC candidate Ratan Chakraborty exercised their franchise in different polling stations of the capital city.
Security forces were deployed in adequate number in all the polling stations.
No untoward incident was reported from any part of the poll-bound areas.
Polling for the Tripura East (ST) seat will be held on April 12.
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